


I'll edit that out

by DevilsgotStories



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Relationships, College AU, Cuban Lance, EVERYONE is here - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance is trying, M/M, Multi, OC, Other, POV switch, Rating will go up, SO MUCH GOING ON, Some angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, dance au, eventual Klance, everyone is on youtube, keith needs a break tbh, minor homophobia, nb pronouns for pidge, none of the videos/art is mine unless stated otherwise, self indulgent, the fic no one asked for, updates every three days, youtube au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 56,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilsgotStories/pseuds/DevilsgotStories
Summary: Keith doesn't know how or why any of this happened, frankly he's not sure if he wants to know.  All he does know is that there's cameras pointing at him-that he's used too-and he's dancing with the man who claims to be his rival and his heart is ready to give out in hopes of receiving mouth to mouth.(aka the fic no one asked for where they're youtubers and on coincidence Keith's uni clashes with Lance's college for an event for the visual and preforming arts and the cliche's occur...with some twists??)





	1. Pidge the traitor and the news

Pidge let out a startled screech as Lance kicked open the door but he didn’t feel an ounce or remorse for the little gremlin.  Not after what the pain in the ass did.  

“How _dare_ you betray me like this!”  He exclaimed and Pidge glared up at him, holding their chest and the corner of their desk as they righted themself in their chair.  

“What the hell are you talking about?”  They snapped and Lance shoved his phone into their face where it was open on their most recently uploaded video.  

“ _This_ ,” he hissed and they leaned back, looking at the phone before looking up at him with a scowl.  

“What about it?  Lance what the hell is going on?”  They questioned, clearly lacking patience.  Lance took in their appearance, throwing the estimation around in his head they’re on their second day of no sleep.

“You did a collab with the Red Samurai,”  Lance said, accusation heavy in his voice.  They sighed heavily, pushing their glasses up higher onto their nose.  

“Yeah, I did.  I’m glad I did too because it looks like…” they trailed off, leaning towards the phone to check before continuing, “I’ve already twice as many views as I usually would get after about two weeks by myself.  And it’s got more in three days then the ones I do with you get in a week.  He has a different fanbase than I do and than you do, even then Hunk does.  We did a video on his channel too, both of them are doing pretty well,” they said before shrugging.  Lance’s jaw dropped at the complete disregard.  The disrespect.  

“ _Pidge!”_ He exclaimed and they turned around, facing their lap top again.  

“ _What_ Lance?”  They snapped and Lance let a pout fall onto his lips, crossing his arms.  

“How could you do a collab with my _rival_?  And not only not tell me about it, but then act like it’s no big deal!?”  Lance asked, walking around to the side as Pidge typed away a mile a minute, doing something Lance knew had like a 50/50 chance of being totally legal or bordering on treason.  

“Lance, you guys aren’t rivals.  Your channels are about two different things entirely.  You’re a damn beauty guru and special effects makeup artist and he does...a lot actually.  Dancing, singing, art and movie or book theories.  You’re not rivals,” they said, as if this conversation was overwhelming and exhausting to them to the point where they might actually consider sleeping.  However, Lance was too busy feeling betrayed.  He threw himself on Pidge’s bed dramatically, letting out a loud whine as he spread out his long limbs on the neglected piece of furniture.  

“No, Pidge.  We’re rivals.  Ever since he slighted me at vid-con, I can’t rest until the Samurai has met justice.  And I _DO_ dance Pidge!  I could wipe the floor with that mullet headed assface any time any where!” Lance said and Pidge let out another sigh, looking like they wanted to bang their head onto the table.  Lance decided to ignore it though.  

“Slighted?  What is this?  The dark ages?  And he has a name, it’s Keith.  That, and you can’t say just because you dance at school means you’re his rival.  You don’t posts your dances like he does, so what exactly are you trying to best him in?”  They questioned and Lance didn’t answer, just letting out an unhappy grunt.  Pidge sighed for what must have been the hundredth time and turned to him, pushing their glasses up.  “Look Lance, I didn’t think it would bother you this much that I did a collab with him.  If it makes you feel any better he doesn’t even remember you approaching him at the con.  He told me he was getting over a nasty cold and was running on like thrity minute of sleep,” they said and Lance perked up, turning and bending his arm, resting his head on his hand.  

“You guys talked about me?”  He asked and Pidge shrugged.  

“You came up in conversation, don’t get such a big head about it.” They warned before turning back to their laptop.  

“If you want I can message him and see if he’s down to talk to you or something,” they offered and Lance thought for a moment, looking down at his phone that he had pulled back out of his pocket.  Pidge’s video _was_ doing really well, and Lance knew that many of his and Keith’s fans had been begging for a collab between the two of them ever since Lance had started to the whole rival thing over twitter.  At first Keith had ignored it and not commented but eventually he gave in, firing back snappily at Lance.  The fans had lost their minds, torn between shipping them and hating the other youtuber.  He had gotten a good amount of exposure due to the whole rival thing. If they did a collab it would no doubt go viral.  However, doing a collab would require talking to Keith and forming somewhat of a friendship and an amount of trust, and that just sounded dreadful.  He shook his head, taking a deep breath.  

“No, thank you though.  If I want to talk to him I’ll probably message him myself,” Lance said before sitting up and standing, pocketing his phone.  

 “Alright well if you change your mind let me know,” they paused, glancing over at him, “and starting a fight over twitter doesn’t count as messaging him Lance,” they said and he put a hand to his chest, letting out an offended gasp.  

“Pidge!  I would _never_.  Who do you think it is you’re dealing with?”  He asked and Pidge looked at him over the rim of their glasses.  Lance pursed his lips.

“You know what?  Don’t answer that,” he said, turning and starting to head out.  

“Are you going to class?”  They asked and Lance paused at the door, looking back.  

“Yeah, we’re supposed to present projects today,” he said and Pidge hummed.  

“Good luck, also I need you to stop by the store on the way home, we’re out of some stuff for the bathroom,” Pidge said and Lance tilted his head.  

“Didn’t Hunk just buy more toothpaste?”  He asked and Pidge pressed their lips together.  Realization hit Lance.  “Oh, same brand as before?”  he asked and Pidge nodded, slightly awkward.  Lance dropped his shoulders, giving them a kind smile.  “It’s okay Pidge, I grew up with one brother and four sisters, then my mom and aunt and my girl cousin for most of my life, and even though you’re not a girl, you can ask me to get you tampons or whatever.  I really don’t care,” he said and they let their body sag, giving Lance a relieved yet sad look at the same time.  

“I just...want it to _stop_ though, ya know?”  They asked and Lance nodded.  

“I know, but you’ll be 18 in what, like two months?  Then you’ll be able to start T and _then_ it’s only a matter of time!”  He said and Pidge took a breath, giving him a small smile that made his stomach curl.  He loved helping his friends or trying to cheer them up.  It gave him so much happiness.  

“Thanks Lance...now get out of here before you get all mushy on me,” they said and he stuck his tongue out, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.  He grabbed his bag that had his dance clothes in it, checking that he had his wallet before he headed towards the door.  It opened just as he put his hand on the knob, Hunk walking in.  

` “I’d stop and chat but you’ve got dance and I’ve got homework and you’re gonna miss the bus, love you, you’re my best friend, talk to you later,” Hunk said, barely taking a breath as he walked past Lance.  He blinked before letting out a small laugh, knowing his friend was stuck in a group project with a bunch of idiots and he was probably just tired, not that he suddenly hated Lance or anything.

“Alright, I’m stopping by the store on the way home so text me if you need anything,” Lance said, hearing a sound of understanding from Hunk who had his head buried inside the fridge.  Lance chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he left and locked the door behind him.  

The half walk/half jog to the bus stop was uneventful, and the ten minutes on the bus was spent with him on social media, scrolling through when he got a notification that Keith had posted.  Now, despite being rivals, they both followed each other on social media, mainly because it was easier to shit talk at each other.  Lance had the notifications turned on so if that mullet ever started something he’d be able to fire back.  He moved to Keith’s account, annoyance in him already growing, preparing himself for a fight but it quickly simmered down when he realized he was just promoting a new video.  Lance raised a brow, it was from his singing channel.  

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t_ :  Just uploaded a new video!  It was awesome to work with @rolopollo, @i’lLotorurmotor, @shayyde, and ofc the one and only @mommakingadifference !  Check out our cover of Rise by KP! ‘

Lance bit at his lip, he knew everybody in that video, or of them at least.  Shay, was Hunk’s big time crush, Shiro did a shit ton of collabs with Keith so Lance knew about him.  Then, he had done a collab with Lotor and Rolo?  He was Nyma’s ex who she kept going back too.  All in all?  That was some serious talent in one video.  He licked his lips, hitting the retweet button.

‘    **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ Haven’t watched it, but if @shayyde and @i’lLotorurmotor is in it then it’s gotta be bomb.  I’m sure you can just ignore @heterDON’t ;P  ‘

He posted it, slipping his phone into his pocket after turning it off.  He got off the bus, heading to class.

~_~  

“Alright, Lance and Nyma, last but never the least you’re up!”  the teacher, Miss Finnie said.  Lance looked at Nyma, sending her a grin as he got up.  He was in a blue tank top that was rather baggy, but it showed off the toned muscle he had gotten through dance.  His muscles weren’t swollen per say, but there was some definition in there.  His track pants were loose and his shoes were long forgotten, only in his socks.  He had on a snapback, wearing it backwards.  It had the deadpool symbol on it and the rest was black.  Nyma was in tight booty shorts, the fabric clinging to her so that her strong legs and ass that he knew she spent forever working on showed.  Her hair was up in two thick warrior braids, a cut out tank top with a band symbol on it that he didn’t know, her sports bra showing on the sides.  

 None of it was sexual though, there were about three other guys in the class not including him, and most of the girls could care less.  Sometimes it was a miracle to get an actual shirt on one of the girls.  There was a lot less oogling than you’d think, I mean, there _was_ oogling, but not as much like would be expected.  After all, everyone in this room was a serious dancer, there wasn’t any time to freak out about a girls work out clothes.  And the dances they did?  Some of them could be pretty sexy, but with the weight and pressure of a grade it took away any chance of it stepping out of line.

Lance and Nyma both took their positions, the class falling dead silent, pressed against the far wall as Miss Finnie started the camera.  All projects were recorded so she could go over them later and grade them.  The music started, and Lance moved.  

([Lance and Nyma’s dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_pyeJJRSvE))

 

The music ended and Lance caught his breath, picking himself up as the camera was turned off.  The class clapped and they both took a bow, hugging tight for a moment before letting go.  

“I told you we had it down.” he said and she grinned.  

“You were right,” she said, putting her hands up in surrender.  Lance smirked, shooting her finger guns.  

“Aren’t I always?”  he asked and she rolled her eyes, pushing him away.  He let out a playful scoff, following her back to the group, a few of his classmates telling him he did a good job.  The chatter was cut down quickly though when Miss Finnie cleared her throat.  

“I want to congratulate everyone on their projects, most of them looked really good. Grades should be out by tomorrow evening.  Now before you all go, I want to go ahead and give you a heads up.  We won’t have any major projects coming up soon, a few solo dances here and there,” she said and looks of confusion went throughout everyone in her class.  This was honors dance, and everyone in this room had taken Miss Finnie their first and second semester of their freshman year.  And if they had learned anything under her, it was that there was always a project to be worked on.   **Always.**  “We won’t be working on anything big because for the next three weeks I want you all to focus on yourselves.  I want you to harness your own style, strengthen your weak points, perfect your strong points.  All of you are very talented, and i want that to show,” she said and Lance narrowed his eyes, smelling something fishy.  

“What’s going on?  Miss Finnie I don’t think I’ve gone two days in your class without having a project or something, what aren’t you telling us?”  Lance asked, tilting his head.  He knew he wouldn’t get in trouble for speaking out of turn.  He knew that she’d never say it out loud, but he was his teacher’s favorite.  Apparently his loud mouth did nothing to cause disdain between them, and she laughed at many of his antics-most of the time.  She took a breath.  

“What I was _going_ to say, Lance,” she glanced at him.  “Is that every year some of the top schools gather together to do two weeks of what they call clash of the arts.  This is the first year our school has been invited to participate, and we’re hosting it.  The drama, choir, and dance departments will be bringing over their advanced and honors classes here for two weeks.  In that time, you will be partnered up with someone that is assigned to you from another school.  Over the two weeks you’ll work and learn from your paired up person or people, as some of you will have more than one partner, and they will learn from you.  It’s designed so that the students can be exposed to different styles of teaching and help from your peers who may know a trick that they learned where they’re from, and they can learn from you,”  She said and curiosity and excitement ran through Lance.  This could be an amazing opportunity to not only show off, but to flirt with an amazing dancer and maybe even learn something.  

“What schools are participating?”  Nyma asked and there was a chorus of ‘yeahs’ and general noises of agreement.  Miss Finnie put up her hand.  

“I’ll get to that in a second.  But what I need you all to know is that we’ve been invited to not only join, but _host_ this very important event.  I’m talking about scouts and agents and even news crews.  However we are not officially part of the list.  This is what you could call our test run, if things go well and we’re impressive then we’ll be invited to join again next year.  If you guys are fucking around and goofing off like you guys normally do if you have any free time, it won’t look good.  And guys, we really need the funding that the school promised us if we impress the other schools,” she said and Lance was practically squirming in his seat, dying to know what schools would be coming.  

He attended GGC, or Galaxy Garrison College.  And while it was a pretty good school, it wasn’t focused on one thing.  It offered a bunch of different majors in very different fields, but because of that, resources were kind of stretched thin.  It was a great school for any type of engineering or science, which was why Hunk and Pidge were there, but it lacked that extra something.  It used to be one of the best schools in the country, everyone wowed by it’s diverse majors and diverse students, but it had quickly sank down to around a B-, maybe a high C.  So the fact that they were invited to do something like this with really great schools, and have the exposure to scouts and agents was great.  

Personally, he couldn’t say he was worried about the scouts, seeing as he was studying to be an astrophysicist, and took dance as a second major, and he also had youtube, but for some of his peers he knew it could make all the difference.  

“The schools that will be joining us are very elite, top ranked in their art departments-” Miss Finnie started but Lance felt like he was about to burst.  

“Common Miss Finnie!”  He groaned, causing the class to giggle.  She sighed, giving him an exasperated look.  

“Joining us will be three schools, Juilliard,” Lance sat up a bit straighter.  His brother went to juilliard, as a dance major.  He’d have to call him later to see if he was coming to the event.  “Altea University, and Marmora’s Blade University,” she finished and Lance felt his mouth drop.  Juilliard used to be the top school in the country for art majors, in fact it was one of the best out of _many_ countries.  But over the past twenty years it had been shoved to second place, only because Altea Uni and Marmora’s Blade had literally _tied_ for first.  People came from all over the world to go to one of those, and the acceptance rate was crazy low.   _Legends_ went to Altea and Marmora, not actual people.  The Garrison wasn’t even in the same league.  What the fuck?  Mind _blown_.  The idea of dancing in front of not only students, but instructors from Juilliard alone had him feeling nervous.  But the thought of performing in front of Altean students or members of Marmora?  He wanted to snap his own two legs right off.  

“You’re….you’re messing with us right?”  Someone towards the back asked and Miss Finnie shook her head.  

“No, now listen, I know that the names are scary, but all of you are extremely talented.  You guys need to remember that the students and teachers are also people.  Many of them are just like you, college kids that mess up, that laugh and make jokes.  I don’t want you guys to freak out or be overwhelmed, which is why I’m giving you this time to work on yourself so you can build some confidence before the event,” she explained.  Lance took in a deep breath, he could do this.  He had been raised in a dance studio.  If he wasn’t swimming, he was dancing.  Who knows?  He might get partnered up with someone really nice and then he’d have another really talented friend who he could bring onto hi channel and do their makeup or something.  He could learn a lot from people his age and maybe even teach them something.  Who knew?  

“That being said, I want you all to be prepared to work _hard_.  Come up with something good and have me approve of it, and while you’re working on yourself I want you to master a short piece, 30 seconds to 1 minute.  On the first day and half of the second you’ll perform short pieces for the instructors so we can decide who best fits who.  From what I understand the second half of the second day is you can grab a partner from another school, you’ll have ten minutes to come up with a quick dance and you’ll do it.  That’s just so we can see how well everyone works together and we can see different personalities.  On the third day you’ll be assigned your partner, and you’ll have the rest of the week and next to come up with something.  Your final presentation with your partner will be used as your mid term grade, so make sure it’s good,” she said.  Lance took a breath.  He could do this.  He got along with easily with many types of people.  He’d work his ass off, just like he did with everything else.  A few questions were asked that he didn’t really mind before one caught his attention, it was Nyma.  

“So for the two weeks that they’re here, will we be doing this every day?”  She asked and Mis Finnie took in a breath.  

“They’re all taking two weeks off from work, from their other classes.  This will be an all day every day thing.  You need to be here, stretched and ready for warm ups by nine in the morning,” the room filled with groans and she gave them a sharp look.  “And it goes it on till five.  If you do not want to or can not give that kind of time, then your alternative assignment will be a fifteen page essay, front and back, font size 10, no double spacing or entering paper on a subject I pick.  If you have work then the school is prepared to speak to managers and explain the situation to them, and the professors at the school have agreed to allow you to make up any missed work that occurs during the event.  Some of your teachers may even excuse it.  What you all need to understand is that this, this isn’t something you want to miss.  And for those of you who _do_ plan on doing this, you need to be dedicated.  You need to show discipline, none of that whining shit you just pulled.  You need to represent your school and make us look good, because if you don’t I can promise that a passing grade won’t come nearly as easy as it does now for this class,” she said and there was a collective intake of breath through the class.  If he were to do the paper, which at the end of the day would be 30 pages of probably a mind numbing subject his grade would drop drastically from a 99 probably down to a 54 or something.  When Miss Finnie gave out a research paper, her grading was brutal.  

“Now, it’s six on a Friday and I’m sure you all have places you would like to be, so I want everyone to do their cool down stretches and then you’re dismissed.  The studio will be open till 8 when I lock up as usual.  Starting Monday, it will be open earlier and later than usual for anyone who wants extra time working on whatever they need,” she said before turning and picking up the camera, carrying it to the far side of the room where her desk was, out of the way of the dance floor.  

The class broke up, everyone spreading out to do their stretches.  Nyma sat close to him, looking over as she grabbed her foot.  

“What do you think about this?  It sounds crazy.  I applied to all three of those schools and was rejected,” she said and Lance took in a breath, mirroring her posture as he brought his chest down to his knee, holding the bottom of his foot as he stretched his worked muscles.

“Honestly it’s a mix of excitement and nerves.  I’ve heard stories about the people that go to Marmora and Altea and I feel like I’m going to be surrounded by a bunch of dancing gods.  Like if we were just to hang out and watch them that would be cool.  But we have to perform in front of them and _with_ them, that’s scary.”  Lance said, both of them switching legs.  

“I understand that, but hey, maybe being top of the honors class here will give us some leverage?” she asked, sending him a wink to which he chuckled.  “Besides Lance, you’re one of the best dancers I’ve ever met.  I really think you could have gotten into at _least_ Juilliard if you had applied, I think you might have had a shot at Altea, but Marmora?  Probably not.  I’ve heard that it’s more of...I don’t know how to say it without sounding like an ignorant white person…”  she trailed off and Lance raised an eyebrow, folding his legs in, his feet touching as tried to keep his knees as down as possible while he bent.  

“I know what you’re talking about but I’m not sure if it’s true.  I know that the amount of white people are pretty low, at least in the dance department.  But I don’t think it’s based on race.  I _will_ say there’s more immigrants or people who weren’t born in America there then there are Americans.  And you know what?  Kudos to them for valuing talent over white skin, blue eyes and green dollar bills,”  he said and Nyma thought for a moment before leaning towards him.  

“It’s still really expensive, but I guess if you’re good enough to get in you’re good enough to get some crazy scholarships.  You know I heard that it has like a state of the art gym?  And personal trainers are assigned to everyone that has dance involved.  Like they added ice stuff, like figure and pair skating a few years ago because it’s another form of art,” she said, clearly excited about it.  He spared her a small smile.  They were really good friends, and for a hot minute they had dated but it fizzled out, both agreeing that they wanted different things.  That hadn’t stopped them from being friends though.  They had met during orientation and their dance styles were similar.  She was a dance major and outside of core classes she took many dance classes.  Ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip hop and even belly dancing.  He had taken that class with her once since he had an opening in his schedule and his scholarship would cover it, and all of the classes he could take for his first major to try and get ahead were already booked.

  He vowed never again.  Ever.  While it did strengthen his core and did give him a few techniques he used in his dances again, the constant burn of his abdomen and hips hadn’t been worth it.  He dropped it as soon as he could.  The only thing he missed was the well defined abs it had given him.  As payback for putting him through hell he got to use some of her crop tops whenever he wanted, unless she was currently wearing them.  All in all, they were good friends, and he knew that despite her love for the Garison, she’d drop it in a heartbeat if any of the three schools coming to them called her and accepted her.  He couldn’t blame her, if he hadn’t chosen to pursue astrophysics as a career he probably would have applied to all of them as well.  But despite double majoring, dance was his back up.  It had to be.  

“Well you’ll have two weeks to rub it in their faces how stupid they are for not accepting.  And who knows?  There’s going to be scouts and agents there, so if you make a good impression maybe next semester you can do a killer audition and interview and get in?” he asked, tilting his head as he finished his last stretch.  She came up a few seconds after he did.  

“Ha, you know it Lance.  You know if you weren’t determined to be a space nerd you’d totally dominate this event.  You’d have all the other schools on their knees begging you to come back with them,” she joked and he leaned back, using his hands to prop him up as he laughed.  

“Yeah totally, and when I walk out Keith Kogane will profess his undying love for me and bacon will rain from the sky,” he said and she stuck her tongue out.  

“I think you guys would get along if you hung out.  Rolo says he’s a cool guy,” she said and Lance sneered.  

“Rolo says a lot of things, like when he told you he’d pay you back for the money you loaned him,” he said and she scowled.  

“Let’s not get into that Lance,” she said firmly and he shrugged, standing up and headed to where his bag was next to his shoes.  Nyma followed him, grabbing her water bottle.  

“I think they actually just did a collab if I’m not mistaken, Rolo was telling me about it earlier,” she said and Lance nodded.  

“They did, mullet-mouth posted it right before class,” he said and she laughed through her nose

“Whatever, I’ll text you later,”   she said, picking up her own bag.  Lance grunted, waving to her as she left the room.  There were only two other students left not including him, they hadn’t done the _best_ job today and were probably going to stay after and practice.  Lance picked up his own bag after he pulled his shoes on, fishing out his phone.  He started heading out when he remembered the conversation he had had with Pidge before leaving.  He paused, licking at his lips.  Maybe...maybe it was time to broaden his viewers?   He could always post a few video’s on social media and if they were liked he could start them up on youtube.  

He turned, making his way over to where Miss Finnie was at her desk.  She looked up from her computer, raising a brow.  

“Yes Lance?”  She asked and he sent her a charming grin.  

“Hey Miss Finnie, I was wondering if there’s anyway I can get a copy of Nyma and I’s dance?”  He asked her.  


	2. Arson and Assassination are not socially acceptable Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a plan for world domination but Allura is key, Shiro is stressed.  
> Also if you didn't know!  
> @lancealot-Lance  
> @heteroDON't-Keith  
> @i'lLotorurmotor-Lotor  
> @mommakingadifference- Shiro

“I can not _believe_ you two!”  Allura yelled as she slammed the door to their apartment open.  Both Keith and Shiro jumped, Shiro looking up from his laptop where he was editing Keith’s latest art video and Keith from his math textbook.  They shared a quick glance right before Allura rounded the corner. 

“Uhm?”  Keith asked but that was all he could get out as Allura threw her glare at him.  

“You two went and visited _my father_ when I was in class?”  she exclaimed and Keith made a face, pressing his lips together and moving them to one side of his face while Shiro shrunk down a little, making his neck less exposed as if he was afraid she’d go for the jugular.  In her eyes, both were admissions of guilt.  

“We got out of our classes early, dance teachers had a meeting so we thought we’d go visit you,” Shiro said, scratching the back of his head.  Keith let out a grunt.  

“Yeah, but campus security took one look at our jackets and went wild, thinking we were gonna do something.  Your dad walked by and happened to notice us.”  Keith explained, holding his palm out as if physically offering her the explanation.  She narrowed her eyes at them.  

“That doesn’t mean you should go have _tea_ with him!  Keith you don’t even like tea!”  She explained and Shiro and Keith glanced at each other again, neither quite sure how to wiggle their way out of this.  

“I...like tea sometimes.  Mostly when it’s expensive tea with the headmaster of Altea.  You know, so if I ever get kicked out of Marmora I’ll have a back up,” he said, putting his hand down and looking back at his textbook.  He didn’t have to look up to be aware of her death glare.  

“Firstly, Keith you’re not going to get kicked out of Marmora, secondly, Allura you should calm down a little.  We were only with him for like thirty minutes.  He was just curious to see how things were going, wanted to make sure we were getting enough sleep and keeping up with our studies.  Then there was a few moments where I think he might have been trying to tell us to transfer to Altea.  Besides, it’s not like we haven’t met or talked to your dad before,” Shiro said and Allura sank into the recliner seeing as Shiro and Keith were sitting on the couch.  Despite going to two different colleges, they shared an apartment together.  The schools were pretty much only ten minutes away from each other and the apartment was right in the middle.  Between the scholarships, the money made from Allura’s modeling career on the side, Shiro’s part time job at Starbucks, Kieth’s art (which actually brought in a good amount of money considering), and the money they all got from the videos they posted, they were doing pretty okay.  The apartment was spacious and clean and in a relatively safe area (they all carried pepper spray and pocket knives though due to Allura’s insistence), with three rooms, a small kitchen, one bathroom and a half and a living room.  

In classic college kid fashion, they had bought both the couch and the recliner at a garage sale and they were in pretty good shape, the glass coffee table had been a gift from Shiro’s parents, the tv being a birthday gift from Allura’s father.  Keith’s father had tried to buy them a lot of stuff, so had Allura’s.  Shiro’s parents had been the most successful in having their child accept their gifts though.  The three of them all came from rather...successful parents but knew that they wanted to make their own way and not depend on parents money.  Which meant despite having loaded parents only a call away, sometimes it was ramen night for four nights in a row, and they all salivated at the idea of free food.  Which also meant the fridge was hardly ever full unless a parent was visiting.  Then it was hectic cleaning and shopping to make it look like they had everything together.  Of course it would be easier to accept the help, but they each had their own reasons for turning it down.  

“Whatever, I just don’t like that you guys didn’t tell me.  I went to talk to my father and he asked when Shiro and I would start dating again,” she said and Keith snorted, looking up at her while Shiro had choked on his own spit, turning red.  

“Oh man that sounds...what did you say?”  Keith asked and she gave him a blank look.  He leaned forward a bit, dying to know.  They had dated for like three months and everyone was sure they’d get married, but a few things happened that only a select few people knew about and they broke up.  It was rough for a week or two but after Keith and Coran locked them in a room together and Keith lost the key-literally lost the key- they made up.  They had agreed that getting romantically involved again wasn’t a good idea but their friendship was strong as ever.  It had been long enough since then that they could all joke about it without any hard feelings rising.  

“I didn’t say anything really, I just kind of coughed and asked him what brought that up,” she said and Keith laughed through his nose, shaking head as he returned to his textbook and notepad, speaking as he wrote.  

“Yeah well, at least he didn’t ask if you were sleeping with your dance partner,” he said and Allura gasped, leaning forward.  

“You’re joking.  Tell me you’re joking,” she said in horror and Keith glanced up at her.  

“I wish.  He held me after class and asked if I was sleeping with Minho and if it was serious or not, then said he didn’t want anything distracting me,” Keith said and Allura covered her mouth.  

“I knew Thace was something but...holy crap.  What did you say?”  She asked and Keith scoffed.  

“I told him I wasn’t, what else would I say?  I can’t believe he would ask that, I felt like combusting right there,”  He said and Shiro shrugged.  

“Yeah but you guys _are_ sleeping together and- ow!”  Shiro yelped as Keith punched his arm, narrowing his eyes, daring him to finish that sentence.  He knew he was sleeping with his dance partner, but it was more than that.  They weren’t exactly together officially, but Keith knew it would get there eventually.  Minho...just needed space and time.  He had commitment issues which Keith could relate too but there was definitely a spark between them.  They were both from South Korea, had the same sense of humor, never had any actual fights that lasted more than three minutes and they just made sense.  They both understood that sometimes the other one needed personal space.  So they weren’t together officially, but Keith knew Minho was worth the wait.  That’s why he put up with all the bullshit that went on sometimes.  

“Doesn’t matter, he doesn’t get to ask me questions like that,” Keith bristled.  Thace may have been his father, but that didn’t give him a right to his personal life.  Allura puckered her lips, tapping her fingers at the sudden tension before she took a breath.  

“Well, I’m gonna order pizza and it’s Friday so it’s movie night!”  She said and both Keith and Shiro turned to her.  

“I’ve got a lot of homework though-”

“I’ve got to finish this for Keith and then start on my own video-”  they said at the same time and Allura narrowed her eyes, standing up.  

“It’s Friday.  Keith I believe it’s your turn to pick a movie,” she said a bit more firmly and both of them let their shoulders drop in defeat.  

“Fine, but I’m doing homework until the pizza gets here,”  Keith said and Allura nodded, heading towards the hallway that held their rooms and the full bathroom.  

“Alright, I’m taking a shower before it gets here.  You need to make sure you have a movie picked out though!”  She called and Keith looked over at Shiro.  

“I’m convinced you guys should date again,” he said in a monotone voice.  Shiro raised his brow.  

“Why is that?”  he asked and Keith leaned in, whispering quietly.  

“Because I think that she could take over the world with relative ease and if you’re dating or even married when that happens means you’ll also have power and by default that means I have it as well because legally we’re brothers and I know if she could she’d totally adopt me,” Keith said and Shiro blinked at him.  

“That...those...that is so…”  Shiro was at a loss for words and Keith rose his own brow.  

“Completely devious and selfish?  Yes.  Yes it is.  But it’s going to start when Allura runs for President, which you know she would totally do if inspired enough.  Then she would win because it’s Allura.  Then she has four years but the way I’ve calculated it, she only really needs two.  In that time I’ll take over both Korea’s, you’ll take Japan and China, then when Allura takes over the world we can surrender our stuff to her and we reap the benefits of being in kahoots with the ruler of the world,” he said and Shiro furrowed his brow.  

“I’m...I’m mad that the fact that is honestly possible as crazy as it sounds, except you and I take over other countries,” he said and Keith shrugged.  

“I’ve heard assassination does wonders,” he said and Shiro face-palmed.  

“Keith, I’m putting you back in therapy,” he mumbled and Keith snorted, shaking his head and going back to his homework.  He finished his math just as the doorbell rang, deciding he’d work on his English later since it usually went by much faster, or maybe he’d just have Minho come over the next day and they could get it done together.  He had been working on his math for a couple of hours anyway, trying to get ahead of all of his work in his classes so he wouldn’t have to make it all up when he got back from Clash of the Arts.  He figured if he could get almost everything done before then he’d only have a few small things that he’d have two weeks to get done.  

“I’m going to set the gen. class building on fire,” Keith mumbled, closing his honors calculus book before placing it on the coffee table where Shiro’s socked feet were resting, crossed at the ankles.  Allura jogged past them as the doorbell rang again.

“No no, don’t get up I’ll get it,” she grumbled, going ignored by Keith and Shiro.  

“Keith we talked about this, I’m not getting banned from another place because deep down you’re an arsonist,” Shiro said, completely unfazed by Keith’s daily claim to set something on fire.  

“Fine, then I’m setting my text book on fire,” Keith said and Shiro sighed through his nose, focused on the making sure that Keith’s voice over matched with the video.  

“Then you’ll have to buy another text book, which is expensive,” he said and Keith wanted to pout, but instead he shuffled closer to Shiro, not quite leaning on him but close enough to where Shiro pushed back a little as if telling him it was okay.  There were very few people Keith was comfortable being close with when he wasn’t dancing, and even then sometimes certain people pushed the line.  Keith watched him work for a minute before he hummed.  

“Thanks again Shiro, I never would be able to get this video out tonight if it weren’t for you,” he said and Shiro tossed him a small smile.  

“No problem, besides, you did almost _all_ of the editing for our Rise cover.  I figured this is the least I could do,” he said, saving the file as Allura walked back in, setting two pizza boxes and a smaller box holding chicken on the counter.  

“Keith did you pick out a movie?”  Allura asked and his mind blanked, scrambling for _anything_ so it would look like he had thought of one already.  

“Uh...Finding Nemo,” he said and Allura narrowed her eyes for a moment before nodding.  

“Alright, set it up then let’s eat,” she said, already opening the boxes eagerly.  

 

~_~

 

Keith scowled at his phone as he turned it back on, seeing tons of notifications flash from his texts and his social media. A lot of it came from twitter, that was expected seeing as he had just posted about a new video with plenty of big names on youtube in it.  But something he wasn’t ready for, and not very pleased about was that Lance’s account was tagged with his name and the video.  He quickly opened the app and started to scroll, not really paying attention to user names, just reading the comments.  

_‘Omg Lance should do a reaction to rise!’_

_‘Love how these two hate each other but they have some of the same friends’_

_‘@lancealot should do a reaction video on @heteroDON’t ‘s music video!  SO much talent in it!’_

_‘Wanna see @lancealot react to the cover of Rise, it sucks lol, i wanna see him laugh at @heteroDON’t’_

_‘@heteroDON’t if @lancealot does a reaction vid to your collab you should do a reaction to him reacting’_

_‘I still ship @lancealot and @heteroDON’t.  They’re both single and always comment on each others stuff???  Mmmokey’_

 

Keith furrowed his brow, usually there was stuff like this whenever either of them posted a video but the fans had never really talked about a reaction video, or commented in this number before.  Knowing what little he did have on Lance, he knew that the boy was a huge people pleaser.  He took in a deep breath, shaking his head as he went to make a post.  

 

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t :_ I don’t really care if the loud mouth does a reaction on the vid, he has friends in it, why wouldn’t he watch it? ‘

 

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t :_ Also to everyone saying I’m single and should date @lancealot, 1st hell no, 2nd I’m involved with someone already sooo ‘  

He posted both of them, going to his snapchat to try and dwindle some of the notifications there but was stopped short when another notification came across the top of his screen, seeing that Lance had retweeted something of his.  

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot :_ @heteroDON’t I wouldn’t date u if u were the last person on earth with me and we had to repopulate the planet ‘

 Keith’s lip twitched in annoyance.  

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_  @lancealot we’re both guys so it would be impossible to repopulate idiot, and I’d rather die than spend the rest of my dies stuck with only you ‘

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot_ :  @heteroDON’t ok r00d i just said i wouldn’t repopulate with u, also if there was no one else left there would be so much free stuff ‘

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t :_ @lancelot fine, just stay far, far, FAR away from me if we’re the last 2 people on earth  ‘  

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @heteroDON’t five feet apart ‘cause we’re not gay *finger guns* ‘  

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @lancealot 1, I’m not gay but i sure as hell am not straight, 2, i’m blocking you '

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ so you’d want to be within five feet of me?  No thanks i’ll pass, don’t wanna be around that stank mullet ‘

‘ **PrinceofanEmpire** _@i’lLotorurmotor :_ @lancealot idk man, @heteroDON’t smells realllly good if u kno wim ;) ‘

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @i’lLotorurmotor dON’T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT ‘

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @i’lLotorurmotor WHAT?!?!  IS THIS A THING?!  LOTOR I STG U BETTER BE MESSING WITH ME  ‘

‘ **Spacedad** **™** _@mommakingadifference:_ @i’lLotorurmotor @lancealot i really don’t condone any of this but i can confirm @heteroDON’t didn’t sleep with Lotor and that he does smell good :) ‘

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @mommakingadifference @i’lLotorurmotor i’m disowning u both and Shiro don’t be surprised when there’s no hot water tomorrow ‘

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @heteroDON’t man that’s just cruel, don’t get mean just cause u’ve got an ugly ass mullet, don’t worry @mommakingadifference u can come shower at my place ‘

‘ **PrinceofanEmpire** _@i’lLotorurmotor:_ when @lancealot ‘s thirst for @heteroDON’t and @mommakingadifference shows up on twitter ‘  

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @i’lLotorurmotor hOw DArE U??  EXposE mE LiKe tHIS??  ‘

 

Keith shook his head, closing the app before rolling over in his bed, trying to get comfy.  He needed to sleep so he could get up tomorrow and get work on his English and meet up with Minho, they needed to go over their dance and clean up some rough edges before Monday.  He’d kick Shiro and Lotor’s ass later.  He shuffled some more, getting comfortable finally before closing his eyes.  

Not even a minute later his phone started ringing, someone actually calling him.  He groaned, rolling back over to grab it and silence it but he paused when he saw who was calling.  His interest peaked and he quickly accepted, bringing the phone to his ear.  

(Bold dialogue is being spoken in Korean) 

 

“ **Minho?** ”  Keith asked and there was a beat of silence.  

“ **Keith?  Did I wake you up?** ”  

“ **Hm?  No no don’t worry about it, uh….why are you calling?** ”  

“ **I’m feeling really lonely and I wanted to know if you’d come over, no one else was free,** ” Minho said and Keith’s heart sank a little.  He was the last person to be asked?  

“ **So...I’m your last resort…?** ”  Keith asked, laying flat on his back, his free hand resting on his stomach.  The idea stung him more than he cared to admit.  

“ **No babe, I know how busy you are and I didn’t want to bother you,** ” Minho cooed and despite knowing it was probably a lie, he decided to ignore it and believe him anyway. That, and the use of the pet name made his heart flutter.  

“ **So what do you want?  Am I spending the night?** ”  Keith asked, already moving his blankets and grabbing clothes.  

“ **It would be easier yeah?  Then tomorrow we can wake up and grab coffee before we study and practice.  And it means we can spend more time together,** ” Minho laughed through the phone and Keith let out an amused huff through his nose.  

“ **We spend a lot of time together as it is,** ” he said and there was a long, high pitched whine from the other end as Keith shoved clothes for overnight and tomorrow into his bag.  

“ **It’s not enough though, come over so I can see you,** ” Minho practically wailed and Keith couldn’t help but to let his lips twitch up.  

“ **Okay okay, I’ll be over in about twenty minutes, keep the door unlocked,** ”  He said.    
“ **Okaaayyy, see you then,** ”  Minho said before hanging up.  Keith looked at the phone for a moment before sighing and grabbing his charger.  Well, he could sleep later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of mild chapter but I just wanted to how the basis of how Keith's life is different from Lance's and how kind of mellow/distracted Keith can actually get throughout the day. Also, Alfor is ALIVE?? Also Keith has some daddy issues :o
> 
> lol well if you liked this chapter please tune in for more! Giving a kudos would be sweet, sharing this story would be FANTASTICALLY SWEET and leaving a comment and telling me what you thought/what you liked/what you think will happen next would be THE BEST THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! I update every three days!


	3. Nasty sex mullet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance reacts to Keith's collab and cover of 'Rise" and then ends up reacting to something else of Keith's as well. 
> 
> Also!  
> @fluffynotfat-Hunk  
> @smolhandsbutibite- Pidge

Lance adjusted himself, fiddling with his hair. He had on his dead pool snapback, making sure it was adjusted just _so,_ making his hair look good and partially windswept. He checked himself on the screen again, nodding to himself once he confirmed the lighting was good. He ran over everything again, his NASA cut out tank top over an undershirt showed off his skin that looked extra glowy if you asked him, thanks to an impulse buy at three in the morning of special lotion. His pants didn't really matter seeing as he was in a computer chair.  He took a breath, turning and clicking the button on the remote to turn on the camera.

 

“What's up guys!  It's your Lancealot of the revolutionary set,” he said the second part in a French accent, waving his hands slightly and grinning at himself before shaking his head and laughing at the camera.

 

“Iiiii’m just joking, I may or may not be really into Hamilton?  I don't know I just, Keith said I was the equivalent of Thomas Jefferson to his Alexander Hamilton and I did some research and found the play. I'm kind of obsessed with it though?  Like, Pidge tried to get me into it a few months ago but I didn't really have the time….” he trailed off, looking anywhere but the camera. He's edit this later to make the pauses and looks seem quirky and cute. He clapped his hands together.

 

“Anyway!  What's up guys if you don't know me, I'm Lance or the Sharpshooter,” he raised his hands, doing finger guns while wiggling his eyebrows and sending the camera a dazzling smile. “And I usually do beauty videos like skin care and makeup tutorials and hair stuff. Recently though I've done a few reaction videos and you guys really seemed to like it so I think if you guys keep requesting reaction videos I may make a side channel for those so that they don't clash and get in the way for people who are here for the beauty stuff specifically. I also just posted a dancing video?  I posted it on tumblr and twitter and if you want to check that out then the links are in the description below. It was an assignment for class and I'm really happy with it so I figured why not post it?   Also I think it's a nice “fuck you” to Keith.  I can dance too, and I don't need an ugly mullet to do it,” as he spoke he used his hands, waving them in the air and making motions with them. He sucked his teeth.

 

“You know what?  I'm rambling. OKAY SO TODAY, I'm gonna be reacting too Red Ninja’s- Keith’s cover of Rise because A LOT of you guys requested it, see?”  He paused, looking around as if screenshots were all around him that he'd edit in later before he continued, “and I haven't watched it yet but I can already tell it's going to be good because he pulled some really talented people like. These are some good names. I know all of these people, or know of them like Shay, that's my girl right there. Love her, she's such a sweetheart. Lotor?  Talented as hell, Shiro is just eye candy and talented and I don't think it's fair that Keith and his mullet get to be all over him because HAVE YOU SEEN that man?  And eh, I guess Rolo is okay. Good voice, his personality could use some work,” Lance said bluntly, looking away from the camera to bring the video up from where he had been loading it. He looked back at the camera.

 

“Alright well we’re gonna watch this, and with all the talent in this video McMullet put together we might just have a religious experience so hold onto your crosses or stars of David or hell I don't know your pentagram or some shit. Whatever you're into, this is an accepting place,” Lance said, shrugging as he hit play. He'd edit it later to put the video on screen with him so people could [SEE what he was reacting too.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U85U3dPuiR4)

 

“Ayye there’s Shiro ((Scott)).  Gorgeous as ever.  Nice background, kind of sets the mood,” Lance said quietly, his eyes scanning the screen.  Suddenly Keith ((Mitch)) was there and his eyes widened ever so slightly.  “Woah, hiding his mullet with a beanie...this is weird, his voice isn’t usually this high,”  Lance said.  He was quiet for a few moments, wiggling as the song built.  He jumped slightly clapping and looking at the camera as Lotor ((Brian)) came on screen.  

 

“Hello!  Handsome alert!”  he said, a smile on his face.  He tilted his head slightly when Rolo ((Mario)) came on screen.  “Okay, so I’m not his biggest fan but this song is complimenting him, I like how they brought him in,” Lance said, knowing he’d edit all of this so everything could be heard.  When Shay ((Mary)) came on screen Lance threw his hands up.  

 

“That’s my girl!  God I love her, sweet voice sweet face,” he glanced at the camera, “I totally need to steal her from Hunk,” he said before looking back at the camera.  He got quiet again when Keith came on screen, only occasionally making a grunt or a squeak.  He leaned back heavily in his chair when keith hit the higher notes at the end, a hand going to his chest.   _What the fuck?  He’s not supposed to be able to do that!  His voice is so deep and gravely!_ He exited the tab when the video was done, taking a moment to collect himself as he licked his lips, taking a deep breath before looking at the camera.  

 

“Holy….wow.  Just wow...guys oh my God.  That was just...so pretty?  I can’t even bring myself to complain about McMullet.  Holy shit that was lit.  The way their voices blended so well together, you know you have all these talented people and usually when that happens people will try and out sing each other but no.  Just, they all blended perfectly which is not an easy thing to do.  I really like the original by Katy Perry but I don’t think I’ll be able to listen to it again because of this.  No wonder you guys wanted me to watch this.  Also Shay and Keith hitting those high notes?  I mean I knew Shay could do it but when Keith went up like that I felt like someone slapped me.  And the way they were singing not only on the down beat but the upbeat as well,” he took a deep breath, pursing his lips.  

 

“Well congratulations guys, I’m officially obsessed with this cover.  I also really like how they set the mood, you know everyone had black, red and purple tints to them so they were all matching.  It was kind of empowering honestly.  I really really love how they ended it because they have these four powerhouse strong male voices so when they were repeating ‘rise’ I was totally ready for a strong, powerful finish kind of like in the original version but they ended with Shay instead who has such a sweet innocent voice, very feminine.  I don’t know, maybe I’m biased because I have a crush on Shiro, I mean HONESTLY who doesn’t?  Man has his life together, I’d call him papi anytime,” he licked his lips playfully, winking at the camera.  He had mentioned his thirst for Shiro a few times and even messaged the man himself a few times making sure Shiro wasn’t uncomfortable with how he joked, and was relieved when Shiro made it clear he hadn’t thought Lance was being completely serious.  He mostly did it because it drove the fangirls crazy and gave he and Keith more fuel for the few times they didn’t actually mean what they said, both using the harmless banter to gain more attention.  

 

“And Lotor is a good buddy of mine and I adore Shay but I think I’d still love it if I didn’t know anyone.  But since it’s my friends I love it even more and I’m so proud of them for being blessed with angelic voices?”  He took a breath, putting his hands in his lap from where they had been dancing in the air while he talked.  

 

“Anyway, that’s all for today, please don’t forget to like and subscribe because I’m a broke college kid and need the support.  Also if you wanted to check out the dancing video then the links will be in the description and if you want to follow me on tumblr then that would be great.  Check out my insta where I post a lot of looks that I don’t do videos of and you get tons of selfies from me.  My snap chat is down below as well if you want to see what my life is like living with other youtubers and my twitter is linked AS WELL.  That’s where most of the drama happens and I’m always screaming.  Anyway I think that’s all for today’s video, I’ll have a new tutorial up soon but until then, goodbye my lovely padawans!”  He said, smiling at the camera for a few seconds before he broke character, turning off the camera and taking the card out.  He heard the door to his room open and he turned, seeing Pidge and Hunk stick their heads through.  

 

“Oh good you’re done recording,” Pidge said, straightening out and walking in with Hunk following behind.  Lance turned back to his desk, slipping the card into his computer.  

 

“Yeah, just did the reaction video to Shiro and Keith’s cover of Rise.  It was actually pretty good.  I was surprised, did you guys know that Keith could hit really high notes?  It sounded like he was a little kid.  Bet his balls haven-”

 

“Ohhkay I’m going to stop you right there Lance,” Hunk said quickly, putting his hands up.  Lance sent him quick pout, pulling up the card’s file so he could start editing.  

 

“Well anyway, what’s up guys?  I thought you guys were doing homework in the park?”  He asked, not caring as Pidge threw themselves on the bed while Hunk sat on the edge.  

 

“Well we were, but it’s really buggy and we couldn’t get anything done.  Also pollen, thou art a bitch,” they said, their fingers intertwining before they put them behind their head.  Lance laughed, glancing at the pair again.  

 

“Pollen wouldn’t affect you nearly as much if you would take your allergy medicine mate,” he said and Pidge scrunched up their nose.  

 

“We picked up more on the way back smartass,” they said and Lance let out a laugh through his nose, listening but working on his video.  Hunk cleared his throat.  

 

“Well anyway on the way home we stopped to get ice cream-” Hunk started but Lance’s head turned so fast he was amazed he didn’t give himself whiplash.  Before he could say how terrible Hunk is, the bigger man held up his hand to silence him.  “Don’t worry, I got you two scoops of superman, it’s in the freezer,” he said and Lance shot him a grin.  

 

“Hunk, you are literally such a blessing to me,” Lance said and Hunk smiled in appreciation.  

 

“Thanks Lance, but anyway!  When we were waiting in line Pidge’s brother called,” he said.  Lance raised a brow, looking at Pidge.  

 

“Matt?  How did _that_ go?  Was he day drinking again?”  Lance asked and Pidge let out a snort, shaking their head.  

 

“Nah, he learned his lesson.  I still have the first two recordings.  I threatened to show them to our parents over Christmas break and he almost had a heart attack.  He doesn’t hit the booze till after six now,” Pidge said and Lance nodded, turning back to his laptop and watching from the corner of his eye as they sat up and swung their feet to dangle off the bed.  “But he told us that his school is participating in that Clash of the Arts thing you were talking about.  And since the Garrison is hosting it he wanted to know if he could crash with us so he and I could see each other some,” they said and Lance paused, turning back fully to them.  

 

“What school does he go too?”  Lance asked.  

 

“Juilliard, we don’t get to see each other unless it’s over break,” they told him and minor relief hit him, glad he didn’t go to Altea or Marmora.  He liked Matt a lot from what he had heard and seen.  Sometimes he’d see him while Pidge was skyping or hear him during one of the phone calls.  A few times he’d even called out to Hunk or Lance over skype and Pidge would scream because it always ended up with them being teamed up against.  That, and from the stories he had heard he had been wanting to meet Matt for a while.  

 

“Yeah I really don’t mind.  That’s weird though, i didn't know Matt went there,” Lance said and Pidge shrugged.  

 

“It never came up I guess, but why is it weird?”  Pidge asked and Hunk looked up, brows furrowed.

 

“Wait, doesn’t Alejandro go to Juilliard?”  He asked and Lance shot him finger guns.  

 

“Yup, I texted him earlier about it and he said he’ll call me later,” Lance said and Pidge shook their head, waving their hands around.  

 

“Wait wait wait why didn’t I know about this?”  They asked and Lance shrugged.  

 

“Same reason we didn’t know Matt went to Juilliard.  Woah wouldn’t that be weird if we both had our brothers come down?”  Lance asked and Hunk groaned.

“I hope not, you know I really love Alejandro, I do.  He’s like my own brother but he eats almost as much as you do Lance.  I’m not sure my cooking skills are up to par,” Hunk said and Pidge elbowed him.  

 

“As if Hunk, the more people here the more people get to compliment you on your food and experience the blessing that is your work,” they said and Lance laughed.

“Yeah, you’re secretly excited about having them come over, if Alejandro _is_ coming and you guys don’t mind him crashing here that is,” Lance said and Hunk shrugged, giving up on the pout he had been attempting and replacing it with a smile.  

 

“I don’t mind man, it might be a little crowded though,” he said and Pidge hummed, putting a hand up to their chin as they stared off into space.  

 

“I don’t knooowwww….I can hardly handle _one_ Lance…” they trailed off, smirking at the betrayed squawk that arose from Lance.  “I’m kidding, kind of.  But it wouldn’t really be fair for me to have a problem with it when you guys are letting Matt stay,” they said and Lance smiled.

 

“Thanks Pidge, anyway I’m going to finish editing this so I can post it, then I’m going to head down to the studio and get some extra practice in,” Lance said and Hunk grimaced.  

 

“Dude seriously?  You’ve run yourself ragged and it’s only been a couple of days since you’ve found out about the event,” he said and Lance shrugged.  

 

“Yeah well, I have two weeks and four days until the event begins.  I know I’ll wow them regardless, but still.  Couldn’t hurt to practice a few things for when they get here.  I wanna get paired up with a really talented person,” he said and Hunk let out a sigh while Pidge shrugged.  He knew he was lying to himself, and both of them knew it too probably but they didn’t comment on it thankfully.  Despite growing up in a dance studio and in a family of dancers, he was nervous as hell.  He had always been confident in his talent and skill, but the thought of going up against or being compared to people from Altea or Marmora made his stomach churn.  Juilliard he could handle.  Deep down he knew that could have gotten into Juilliard if he had really wanted too, but it was laughable to think that the other two schools would look at his application for more than a second before chucking it.  He had even dug in and did some more research about the school and his nerves had caught ablaze.  They were both so high up on the scale of living that Lance felt like he was drowning in debt just looking at them.  

 

Everything looked shiny and new at both of them, Altea having this super clean, pale palette to it with a futuristic soft vibe to it.  While Marmora had darker colors, sharp, shiny black with red and purple here and there.  The sidewalks-from what he could see in the pictures-were covered with exquisite art with a graffiti edge to it.  There was a heavy feeling of discipline and seriousness, more so than Altea though Altea held its own.  There were a few oddly shaped building, having an edgy feel to them as if in order to get in you had to be part of some top secret organization or something. Both schools had theaters which made the Garrison’s own theater look it had been dragged through hell a few times.  And the dance studios?  Lance had felt his heart contract with jealousy.  At both schools, they looked so...so professional.

 

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to look at the dorms or the price of tuition once he saw that Marmora’s acceptance rate was 2.3% and Altea was 3%.  He had gone back to his earlier thought when he first found out.  People don’t go to those schools, legends do.    

 

“Alright well, we’ll leave you to it.  Don’t forget you have ice cream in the freezer,” Hunk said as he stood up.  Lance nodded to him, being pulled from his toughts.  Pidge hopped down as well.  

 

“Oh and try and keep it down, I’m gonna be recording a video soon,” they said and he tilted his head.  

 

“What game?”  he asked and Pidge shrugged.  

 

“A bunch of people requested I do GTA again, since my first time playing was the collab I did with Keith,” Pidge said and Lance nodded.  

 

“Okay, have fun picking up the hookers,” Lance said as the two of them started leaving the room.  Hunk let out a scandalized shriek while Pidge turned and shot him finger guns.  

 

“You know it,” they said, closing the door behind him.  His heart swelled, his hand going up to his chest.  

 

“My child...just shot me finger guns,” he said to himself, wiping a fake tear from his eye before turning back to the video.  

 

It took him about an hour to edit everything and set it up, watching it through once or twice to make sure he didn’t forget anything.  He set a timer for it to be posted, making sure it would upload around seven tonight.  He leaned back in his chair with a content sigh, a feeling of productivity in him.  He had been doing everything the moment it came to him the past few days, not procrastinating like he usually did.  He went to this school solely on scholarships and had enough extra to be able to cough up his part of the rent; which thanks to Pidge moving in at the beginning of this year and decreased his share by 250$, and barely be able to pay his share of the utility and his phone bills.  WHat he made from youtube was used to help with groceries, stuff to make the videos and then anything else he made.  However, the video’s only brought in so much which meant he couldn’t afford to lose any scholarships or he’d lose his full ride.  Of course if he was really concerned about it he could move into the dorms, but he had seen them and after 18 years of sharing a room with one or more siblings, he wanted his own.  

 

So in short, he would put some of his projects off or whine about studying, but he got his shit done on time.  He studied hard and aced his tests and quizzes.  But ever since he heard about the event he had been making sure to get everything done the day, or at the very most, day after it was assigned.  There was no way in hell he’d be behind in _anything_ before the event started.  He pulled out his phone, heading to twitter.  

 

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ Hey guys!  Just did a reaction video to the cover of Rise posted by McMulle-i mean @heteroDON’t ;), it’ll be uploaded by seven!  ‘  

 

He posted it, smiling to himself at his witty comment.  His fans quickly picked it up, spreading it like wild fire.  He read a few of the comments, smiling at some of the really nice ones and favoriting them while he waited to see if Keith would take the bait.  He scrolled through his feed, seeing a couple of funny things from Lotor and retweeting Shay’s post about her newest video, making a mental note of how he needed to get her on his channel.  It wasn’t long before he got the notification he was waiting for.  Keith had posted something.  A smirk crossed his face, his fingers tapping at it before his brain could tell them too.  He took a deep breath, already thinking of good comebacks when he choked on his own tongue, a deep blush rising to his cheeks.  He wanted to look away, wanted to close out the app and scream but he couldn’t.   Words, thoughts, air had left him.  Because that...that wasn’t what he was expecting.  

 

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @lancealot some people appreciate my hair, [IMAGE]  ‘  

 

A picture of Keith shirtless, black jeans that clung to him riding low on his hips and giving a glimpse of the name ‘Calvin Klein’ on his boxers.  His back was to the camera but there were a few scratch mark running down the otherwise smooth skin that was taught with toned muscle.  It didn’t stop there though, oh no.  There were legs wrapped around his waist, small but toned, wrapped in purple leggings, a person up on the counter that Keith was facing.  The owner of the legs was in a baggy white hoodie that was ridden up, exposing a sliver of paler skin than Keiths.  The person had their hand tangled in the back of Keith’s head, inky black hair mussed and messy between the person's fingers.  If Lance looked closely-which he totally _didn’t_ do- he could see faint bite marks on his shoulders, Keith’s face buried in their neck as if kissing it while the other person had their head tilted back just out of shot of the camera.  The person’s other hand was holding the camera to take the picture in what Lance knew must have been a mirror.  

 

_Holy shit.  Holy shit oh my God.  What the fuck?  How the hell?  Is that the person Keith said he’s involved with?  Wait no of course it dumbass.  Holy crap, was that just taken?  Those scratch marks look fresh...holy shit Keith gets laid on the regular by someone with nice as legs.   Keith also wears Calvin Klein and pants that make his ass look great.  Why is back so toned?  What the FUCK?!_

 

Lance’s eyes were teary from keeping them open so long, his mind short circuiting the longer he looked at it.  He let his phone fall into his lap and he quickly covered his face with his hands.  He had never felt more red in his life.  The question is though, why the hell did this picture make him blush?  And why did the image of someone wrapped around Keith’s waist and gripping at his hair tightly, make Lance want to run his hand through it himself?  He took a deep breath-a few actually- and picked up his phone, trying to calm down his racing heart.  

 

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_  @heteroDON’t jesus there are children present.  You can’t just post ur nasty sex mullet out in the open like that!  ‘

 

Lance nodded to himself.  There, that was perfectly acceptable.  No one would ever see through that.  He used the words ‘nasty’ and ‘mullet’ in the same sentence, so it CLEARLY meant he was completely unaffected.  His phone buzzed and against his better judgement he looked down.  

 

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @lancealot oh i see, you wanted me to send it to you in private?  Good to kno, anything else you want to see as well?  ‘

 

 **_NOPE_ **!  Nope nope nope!  

 

He had his dance bag and his shoes on in a matter of milliseconds.

 

“NOPE!”  Lance yelled as he practically ran from the apartment, uncomfortable and unprepared for anything like that all.  He needed to dance, _hard_ and focus on the upcoming event.  Not on Keith’s post sex back and hair, which was why his phone was on the floor of his room.  Unfortunately, because of that he missed the tweet from his dearest friend who would never, ever betray him.  

 

‘   **NativePineapple** _@fluffynotfat:_  @heteroDON’t dude I think you broke him, he literally just ran out screaming ‘NOPE’ ‘  

 

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_  @fluffynotfat did he really?  ‘  

 

‘ **Greentech** _@smolhandsbutibite:_ @fluffynotfat @heteroDON’t it was literally the best thing that’s happened to me all week tysm, ‘  

  
‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_  @fluffynotfat @smolhandsbutibite anytime guys ;)’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaaaat? I know I'm like an hour late posting this i'm sorrrrry. Anyway, please comment down below about what you thought of this chapter, what you liked and didn't like, what you think will happen in the next chapter and stuff and what you WANT to happen! Also a kudos would be appreciated and sharing the story with others would be awesome! If you want to follow me on tumblr you can find me @firemageking, so if you make a post about this fic or any of my other fics please tag me! Also I was asked on another platform about how i felt of people producing fanart for my things and honestly? I'd be so happy and honored if someone did that lol. So feel free to do that if you were wondering, just PLEASEEEE let me see it and make sure you state what fic it's for :)


	4. Excellence runs through our veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a guest instructor for Keith and Minho's class, Keith fights with Thace, talks to Lance and gets compared to other people. Also Shiro and Keith almost died last time they vacationed with Allura

Keith sighed, sipping at the latte Shiro had gotten him using his employee discount.  Honestly, the pros of working at Starbucks might outweigh dealing with customers, he’d get tons of free coffee and shit.  It was eight in the morning on a Friday, and he had spent all night up with Minho going over their choreography for the song that Minho had drawn from a hat.  He wish he could say that when they finally called it a night at two in the morning that they had gone to bed.  But alas, they had not.  Both trying to prepare for Clash of the arts they had stayed up another two hours working on their English papers on a topic that hadn’t been discussed in class yet because it was supposed to be assigned during Clash of the Arts.  Needless to say, when Shiro showed up at Minho’s dorm bearing coffee and a change of clothes for Keith, he had been welcomed with joy and declarations of love.  

The three of them were currently crossing campus towards the dance building, Shiro heading towards ballet while Minho and Keith were headed towards hip hop, their classes starting at 8:30, but it took about ten minutes to get from Minho’s dorm to the dance building and it was expected that you would be changed and stretched and ready for warm ups by 8:30.  

 

( _Bold text is being spoken in Korean)_

 

 **“I still can’t believe you two stayed up that late.  You guys need to make sure you’re fully rested before COTA, Thace is gonna tear you a new one when he see’s those dark circles,”** Shiro scolded, earning an eyeroll from both Keith and Minho.  

 **“Thace is the one who made us draw a stupid song from a dumb hat then say we needed a dance ready for the next class,”** Minho said and Keith hummed in agreement, taking another sip of his drink and eyeing Minho from the side.  He had short brown hair styled in a slightly ragged bowl cut, soft features that could be present as masculine or feminine, but leaned heavier towards feminine.  His eyes were brown, monolids much like Keith and Shiro.  His skin was pale and he was tiny framed, about two and a half inches shorter than Keith, his shoulders much slimmer.  His arms, which were currently hidden beneath a very large hoodie were slim but had a little bit of definition in there.  He was pretty bony all around, but he also had the ability to be sexy as all hell along with adorable and beautiful.  Okay, so maybe Keith was super into him.  

 **“Wow, tell us how you really feel.  And it’s not like we don’t deal with this all the time,”** Keith said, pulling his cup away from his mouth, eyeing a group of freshmen as they scurried around.  It always amused him seeing them travel in packs, even when he was a freshman himself he’d watch from a table or a good vantage point s they bundled together as if that would protect them from the upper classmen and the instructors.  Shiro stepped ahead of them, grabbing the door and holding it so the three of them could slip in, both Minho and Keith muttering a thank you.  

“ **Well I just don’t want to deal with it, especially since we’re all trying to get ready for COTA, he knows we’re busy as hell, and he still hands out these assignments like we’re not all already slaving,”** Minho said, taking a large gulp of his iced coffee.   **“Shiro I can’t thank you enough for the extra shot,”**  he mumbled, the three of them making their way down the hall.  

“ **I think he’s trying to push us harder or something because he wants to show off to the new school on the list.  He has no problem giving his opinion on it.  If I didn’t know any better I’d say he doesn’t think it’s up to standards, let alone good enough to host it,”**  Keith said.  Shiro hummed.  

 **“It used to be a good school apparently, but it became obsessed with having tons of majors so it started focusing more on science and math related stuff.  From what I’ve heard if their trial run goes well this year their art departments will get more funding,”**  Shiro said and Keith made an ‘ahh’ sound of understanding while Minho scrunched his face up.  

“ **I researched it, it doesn’t have any focus, the campus could use a lot of work, the buildings look old and the acceptance rate is 47%,** ”  Minho said and Keith sucked in a deep breath, Shiro giving Minho a sideways look at the negativity.  Keith dismissed it as just being grumpy since they woke up late and he didn’t have time to do his usual morning routine.  Then again though, neither did Keith but he was managing...sort of.  

 **“Well, I guess we should leave final judgments until the end of COTA, then we’ll know if it’s up to par,** ”  Shiro said and Keith grunted in agreement.  They said a quick goodbye as Shiro ducked into his classroom, Minho and Keith going past the desk and into their own room.  Thace wasn’t there yet, and only three other students were there, many bags on the floor which meant most of them were changing.  Keith had changed into his dance clothes at Minho’s.  He was wearing his spiderman hat, a slightly baggy shirt with the Korean lettering for “feed me” on it in red, the shirt base color being white.  He was in tight black leggings that had a red stripe up the outer side of each leg, wearing “Glam Pie” by pastry poptart in red sneakers.  He went to the usual spot against one of the mirrors he and Minho sat at, setting his bag down while taking another sipe from coffee, watching Minho  pull his hoodie off and tie it around his waist.  He was in a baggy shirt, his favorite green leggings and the same shoes as Keith but in black.  He ignored the white guy in the corner who was glaring at him, putting his drink down before sitting next the other two people in the room, Minho joining him.

“Haiiii Keithhh and Minhooo,”  one of them drawled out, sending a friendly smile to them as he came up from a stretch.  He was from Thailand and much like Minho, still learning english.  The girl that was with him sent them a quick grin. 

“Hey guys, you missed John’s morning rant,” she said, her smile amused.  Keith shrugged, pulling out of one of his stretches.  

“Frankly, I couldn’t be more glad,” Keith said and the girl-Kim- snickered.  She was Japanese, but she had been born in California.  Her mother was fully Japanese while her father was half white.  If he remembered correctly he was in the military and had met Kim’s mother on deployment.  So growing up Kim had been able to visit her mother's family a lot.  He wouldn’t say they were best friends, but if Keith was all alone and wanted company then he could sit next to her and they could easily slip into Japanese and talk.  One of the reasons he liked her was because she could be savage as hell when she wanted to be.  They’d sit and make up stories about the people passing or throw out commentary here and there.  It was good, and it kept the language fresh in both of their minds.  Of course he could always speak it with Shiro or with their legal parents, but Shiro and Keith had cut down on it when they moved in with Allura to not make her feel like an outsider.  However, she _had_ made been trying to learn Korean for the past few months and was getting better at it.  Her reasoning was she needed to be fluent in it when she came to visit Keith when he was a “big time kpop star”.  

“His racist eh, attitude takes away from any dancing skill he has,” Minho said a bit slowly, his accent thick as he thought about his words carefully.  He had transferred here at the beginning of the year, moving from Korea once he had been accepted into Marmora.  He hadn’t spoken a lick of english when he arrived, and he had quickly attached to Keith when he heard him talking on the phone to Shiro, the only one saying something he could understand.  Since then, with help from the tutor his parents paid for to help him with the language and Keith’s help he had gotten much better at it.  Enough to where he was able to branch out and make more friends.  It was bittersweet for Keith, because he wanted Minho to have other friends, but he realized that he wasn’t the _only_ one attracted to Minho’s personality and Minho could be quite the flirt.  He didn’t even have to know enough english to flirt properly, but he was fluent in body language.  

Keith hummed, glancing John.  He was one of two white people in the class, blue eyes and blonde hair.  He was handsome sure, things about his appearance that stood out.  Keith had seen him dance and at first had been interested in general.  He was good of course, otherwise he wouldn’t be here, however, the moment Kim had rejected a rather nasty advance of his it had just gone down hill.  She had walked away, towards himself and Minho who were toward the back watching the scene and then, good old Johnny boy had decided rejection just wasn’t for him.  He had opened his mouth, sadly and gone ‘whatever, damn eggroll pussy.  Just go back to China,”  Keith, still to this day doesn’t remember getting up.  He doesn’t remember punching him so hard a tooth fell out and he doesn’t remember ripping a chunk of hair out.  He doesn’t remember, but seeing as the entire class had witnessed it and John was indeed missing a tooth, it must have been true.  

Keith hadn’t been expelled-thank God- seeing as John had punched him back (a shoulder hit, really nothing but a light tap).  They were both given a severe warning and the school made it clear if any further legal action was pursued there would be an expulsion.  

After that, John made a huge deal whenever he could, telling any other white person at the school how Keith was super racist and violent.  Which was weird, seeing as he got along fine with the other white person in the class, and Pidge was white and he had no problems with them at all.  On one hand, he felt bad for John.  The poor guy had gone from being surrounded by rich white people to becoming a minority, seeing as white people made up only about 5% of Marmora’s student body.  Then again though, on the other, much stronger hand he thought it was hilarious seeing the privileged little white boy scramble for excuses.  Keith didn’t hate white people.  He hated racist little shits who couldn't acknowledge their own privilege.

 

“Hey, one more month and a half until spring break.  Then, I say we all get drunk and _sleep_ ,”  Keith said and Phichit-the man from Thailand- laughed.  

 

“Oh yeah, sounds good.  What are all of your plans?”  He asked, punctuating the ends of his words heavily.  Kim shrugged, pulling her legs closed from having them spread out almost completely straight out on her sides while Keith moved into that position himself, letting out a deep breath as he leaned to the left.  

 

“Probably study and maybe get ahead of my gen classes in homework.  Grind don’t stop,” she said and Keith rolled his eyes.  

“Please don’t ever do that again,”  Keith snipped.  Minho furrowed his brows.

“Grind?”  He asked and Keith shook his head. 

“Don’t,”  

“What about you Minho?”  Phichit asked and the smaller framed boy looked at him with a small grin.  

“I’m going to be sleeping and eh...how do you call it when you see a lot of episodes at once?”  Minho asked, looking at Keith.  

“Binge watching?”  Kim and Keith asked in unison and Minho nodded.  

“Yes, binge watching Netflix,”  he said.  Keith's heart wanted shifted at how adorable that was.   _Stupid heart.  Now is not the time._  

“Keith?  What about you?”  Kim asked and Keith hummed. Pulling his legs closed now that both sides were stretched.  

“I’m not sure yet, there’s a lot on the table.  Parents are talking about flying Shiro and I to their flat in France since they’ll be working there during our break but the plans haven’t been set in stone yet.  Then our roommates dad extended an invitation to go with them on a vacation but last time we went with them somewhere Shiro and I almost got eaten by a tiger trying to keep Allura from being eaten by a tiger so who knows?  If Shiro ends up going I may just stay so I can have the apartment to myself.  Make a few videos and get ahead in my gen classes homework like Kim,”  he said.  Kim blinked in alarm while Phichit leaned forward. 

“You almost got eaten by tigers?”  

“Oh!  I saw your cover for Rise!  It was very good!”  Phichit said.  Keith nodded, offering an awkward smile.  He really wasn't good at accepting compliments, though he should be used to it by now.  There were three loud claps and the four of them quickly quieted down, turning towards the source of the noise.  Thace was standing there, a muscle shirt and joggers, his hair styled in his usual short mohawk, a groomed goatee on his chin.  Next to him was a woman he vaguely placed as one of the instructors but he hadn't seen her around very much or had her as a teacher.  Keith picked himself up, much like everyone else who had filled in during the time he had been talking.  He headed to what they considered the front of the room, Minho and Kim on his right and left while Phichit was behind him.  Everyone else took their spots in the class as well, giving Thace their attention.  They didn’t have assigned spots or anything, but it was the same idea as in gen classes.  Like, when you sit somewhere everyday, that’s _your_ seat.  The more confident ones or top of the class usually leaned more towards the front.  

“Good morning class,”  Thace said and there was a unison echo from the class.  Marmora had high standards, and with that came strict discipline so that could be even more impressive when sponsors for the school came around to see if they still wanted to or were interested in investing.  

“This is Mrs. Ginn, some of you may have her or you may have her in the future.  She teaches the class on “sexuality through dance,” and will be helping critique your suicide assignment.  Then we’ll do a copycat.”  Thace said.  The ‘suicide’ was what the dance classes called the assignments where they had one day to come up with something equal to four homework grades.  A copycat was when the instructor/s would do a piece anywhere from a minute to a minute and thirty seconds and they were expected to copy to the best of their ability after seeing it once, while putting their own spin on it.  Lets just say, freshmen and sophomores weren’t usually graded on them.  It was a hard thing that juniors and seniors usually had to do for grades.  But, this was the honors class so being second years didn’t mean a damn thing.  “She’ll be pitching in here and there in our classes as we gear up for COTA.  I expect her advice and tips to be taken seriously, so that you’re prepared to take on whatever role you may need too when you’re partnered up at the event.  I’m going to remind you now for those who haven’t gone before, that you will very likely not know your partner, and you may have to take on a different role then what you’re used too.  Mrs. Ginn will help you feel more comfortable with that switch,” Thace said and there was silence as the room listened, holding back any comments.  Thace nodded, turning his back he went to the built in shelf on the wall that was hip level, taking the plugged in ipad into his hand.  

“Good, I’ll start your warm up playlist and after that we’ll see your suicides.  After everyone presents we’ll do a copycat and depending on how many of you get through it I may not use it for a grade,”  Thace said and there were a few quiet exhales of hope.  Thace pressed the ‘play’ button and everyone in the class moved, knowing the assigned warm ups by heart now.  It was almost scary how unison everything was.  Thace moved to the front, facing the mirror there as he went through the warm up with Mrs. Ginn since they’d be dancing too.  

It went by fast, and before Keith knew it four groups had gone and Thace was calling Keith and Minho up, his eyes narrowed in the slightest.  Keith’s lip twitched, remembering last week when he had the audacity to ask about Keith’s sex life.  Well, at least they weren’t the ones to pick out this song.  

He hopped up, moving past Thace to put in the song while Minho moved around a little in the center, facing the back wall where everyone was sitting.  Kim was in the only one in the center against the mirror, holding up Keith’s video camera for him so he could post this if he wanted too.  There were a few laughs and calls of encouragement as the song came on and Keith sauntered up to Minho.  They didn’t ALWAYS pair up but nine times out of ten they would.  They were the best in the class, and pairing up together could guarantee a high grade with very minimal bickering or disagreements on choreography.  Keith smirked at the camera, his hat now on backwards from when he had moved it during warm ups, and then they began.

 

  ([Minho is the girl, Keith is the guy, the first couple only](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ta6sFj8eQ) )

 

A few of their classmates whistled playfully, and at the end of their set Keith chuckled to himself when Minho got close to the camera, throwing kisses at it.

Kim stopped recording, giggling as she handed Keith the camera and Thace turned off the music.  Keith and Minho both took their seats, watching Thace check a few things off on his clipboard, writing a few notes before he looked up at them.  

“Call it out or wait?”  He asked and Keith shrugged.  

“Call it out,” Minho said confidently.

“99.  Minho you were off just by a fraction when you grabbed his shirt,”  he said and a few of their classmates gave quiet congratulations as the next group was called up.  Keith licked his lips, jumping slightly when Minho offered a small tub of chapstick to him.  He accepted it thankfully, applying it to his lips.  Keith had a bad habit of licking and biting his lips to where they’d get red and raw then super chapped but he never had any chapstick on him, which was why Minho had taken to carrying a tub for both of them to use.  

 _A 99?  What the hell Thace?  Would it have killed you to just give the damn hundred?  That was worth a one hundred.  I stayed up till four in the morning and woke up late enough to miss out on any morning routine, my skin is going to protest Thace.  What the fuck, I hope you’re happy oh loving father of mine.  How the hell am I supposed to stay on top if i’m getting a 99?  That’s not the number that keeps you at the top.  A hundred does.  Along with extra activities.  I worked hard as hell, Minho was not off.  What the fuck?  If anything I was off with the hip roll.  We put that together in one day, on top of all our other classes, for a song we never heard before.  My grade is suffering because Minho didn’t close his fingers around my shirt-_  

Keith snapped out of his thoughts when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.  He frowned, glancing around.  Minho was looking at him expectantly.  Keith furrowed his brow, turning slightly so his phone would be hidden from Thace and Mrs. Ginn’s vision along with the mirror as he pulled it out, glancing at the text on screen written in Korean lettering.

 _From Minho:_ **a 99?  Next time we’ll just fucking die instead of sleeping**  

Keith held back a snort, pocketing his phone again and nodding to Minho who quirked an eyebrow, clearly unhappy with the grade.  Deep down Keith could hear Shiro’s voice telling him he was being irrational and that a 99 was good, especially since so far no one else had gotten a 99 or 100.  But still. Maybe it was the asian in him and the expectation of his peers that made the idea of being anything less than the perfect score make him squirm.  Or maybe it was because if he didn’t graduate at the very top, then it would feel like Thace had somehow won, even though he had made it clear he wanted nothing but to support Keith and get to know him.  Something deep down inside of him wanted  to become the very best, wanted to have power and respect and skills behind his name, so that he could go to Thace and shove it in his face.  A kind of like a ‘all these odds against me and your stupid ass grading me harder than everyone and I’m still on top’ thing.  He wanted to make sure Thace knew EXACTLY what he had given up all those years ago.

The rest of the projects went by quickly, and then Thace went up with Mrs. Ginn, the music starting for the copy cat.  Keith zeroed in, analyzing every movement of Thace’s body, knowing he’d pair up with Minho or Kim who would take the feminine role of Mrs. Ginn.  He licked his lips, tasting the cotton candy flavored chapstick.  He wasn’t a fan of the flavor, but Minho was crazy about it.  The class clapped as Thace and Mrs. Ginn broke apart, both grinning.  

“Alright, who’s up first?”  Thace asked, hands on his hips.  Keith looked to the side, Kim talking with Phichit.  Minho met his gaze and nodded to him.  Keith stood up.  

“We’ll go,” he said, just beating John who had started to stand up.  The blond sent him a scowl that he ignored, helping Minho up with one hand.  He looked at Kim.  

“Can you get this?”  He asked and she nodded, grabbing his camera.  She had taken a few film production classes and it wasn’t uncommon for her to shoot something for a video Keith or Shiro was working on.  Keith and Minho went into the center, ignoring the few people who stood outside the door looking in through the glass.  It wasn’t uncommon for non dance majors or lower class men to watch the honors classes or senior classes.  The music started and both Keith and Minho started moving, taking the first twenty seconds or so to do their own style of what had been done, waiting for the actual punch of the song.  Thankfully, they had worked together enough that they went in the same direction with movements, so it looked planned.  Once the first hit of the drum hit they started replicating what had been done, Keith making sure his movements were clean and precise and on _time_.  

 

 [(Minho is the girl, Keith is the guy.  Only the first couple that appear)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWDQRLc65wg)

 

When they finished what had been shown the class applauded, a few calling out as a joke.  Minho flashed Keith a smirk and he returned it, heading towards Kim as Thace reset the music, John and the unfortunate soul that had been paired up with him making their way to the center.  

“Did you get that?”  Keith asked and Kim fanned herself playfully, handing the camera to Keith.  

“Oh yeah, real hot guys,” she said playfully.  Minho made a kissy face at her and she giggled.  

“Oi, don’t leave me out!”  Phichit whispered and this time all of them giggled before falling silent and watching the rest of the copy cats.  There was time for about five other groups to go before they were told to their stretches, Mrs. Ginn going around and handing a paper to everyone on the notes and comments she had for them.  When she handed Keith his paper she gave him a small nod.  

“I was impressed with your dancing.  I was told your double majoring in dance and voice.  You must be stretched pretty thin on time,” she said and Keith looked at her, trying to decide her angle.  

“I am, but the deal I cut with the school makes it worth it.  Full ride for dance, extra for being in the music program.  So work doesn’t get in the way,” he said slowly and she tilted her head.  

“Your brother is top of his year as well.  Does it run in the family?”  She asked and Keith’s irritation flared up.  He really, _really_ hated being compared to Shiro.  

“There’s plenty of things Shiro and I have in common.  But I like to think any achievement I make is because of _me_ and not my brothers name,”  Keith seethed.  Mrs. Ginn seemed competent enough to realize when the snake was threatening to bite so she backed off, nodding to him.

“I see, well I would love to see you two in action together.  Not this year of course, but maybe next year I can get you both into my class of excellence.  I’d love to see what you two could pull off together under the classes program,”  she said and Keith’s eyes widened, not seeing the way Minho’s head snapped up from where he was stretching, jaw hanging open at what she had said.   _That’s where I know her from_.  

“Wait...what?  That’s only for seniors who audition for it.  I’ll be a Junior next year so-”  he started and she raised a brow.  

“I’m one of the judges.  Third years are allowed to audition for it, they just never get in.  But maybe if you impress us enough...I’ll see you there,” she said and Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe.   _Holy shit.  If he were to get into that class during his THIRD year?  Oh man...the experience he would get, the extra credit.  The class of excellence is known for being paid by events and places to go perform for them.  I mean, certain clubs that I’m in are also hired like that...but the class of excellence?  As a third year?  I mean I would have gotten in when I went for it in senior year, without a doubt.  But as a third year?  None of the seniors would take me seriously...until I proved them wrong….oh my God._ Keith swallowed, looking up at her.  

“Well then...I guess I should start thinking of an audition piece,”  Keith said and she sent him a coy smile, standing up right again before walking away, handing out the rest of the papers.  The last few minutes went by in a daze and the class was dismissed.  Keith grabbed his stuff, walking with Minho towards the door when Thace cleared his throat.  

“ **Want me to waist outside?”**  Minho asked and Keith looked over at the older man, taking in the stare and expectant lift of his brow.  Keith let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“ **No, I’ll see you later,** ”  Keith said and Minho nodded, leaving the class while Keith peeled off and walked to where Thace was standing near the shelf.  He looked up at the taller man, waiting to hear whatever he had to say with a scowl.  Thace avoided his eye until everyone had filed out of the room before he looked down.   They had the same eyes, deep purple with grey flecks and hints of blue.  Keith couldn’t tell you how many times he’d been accused of wearing contacts.  

“The picture you posted on twitter was inappropriate,” he said after a few moments of silence.  Keith instantly groaned, rolling his eyes.  

“What the hell?  You’re stalking me on twitter?”  Keith asked, anger and accusation in his voice.  Thace gave him a firm look.  

**“Riku-”**

**“It’s Keith.  Only family gets to call me by my first name, and even they hardly do,”** Keith snapped.  Thace let out an exasperated sigh.

 **“I’m your father, I can call you whatever you want,”**  He said and Keith’s lip twitched.  

 **“Biologically maybe.  But you sure as hell weren’t interested in calling me anything after I turned six,”** Keith snarled, bristling at Thace’s look.   Thace took a deep breath.  

 **“Fine.  Keith.  Please just listen, I am trying to pay for my mistakes as a father and as a person. But I can’t do that when you refuse my gifts and my company,”** Thace pleaded and Keith’s lip curled.  

“Well here’s a lesson for you then.  Don’t try and bribe your abandoned kid with fancy gifts,”  Keith snipped before turning on heel, starting to walk out before he lost his temper and punched Thace.  “Oh, and what I post is none of your business!”  Keith called over his shoulder before exiting the room, letting the door close behind him.  

~_~

 

Keith threw himself down on the couch, body at an angle so he didn’t hit Allura who was on the other side.  She looked away from her laptop, books spread around her along with a half filled up notepad, a few highlighters and different colored pens around her and on the coffee table.  

“Shiro got you an iced caramel macchiato, it’s in the fridge,” she said and Keith let out a long groan, not wanting to move at all.  His day and just gotten worse and worse since his talk with Thace, he was sore and upset and just wanted to sleep, however that would be highly unlikely because he still had to upload the dance video he had done Wednesday so that he could post it.  Then he needed to do a voice over for his latest art video before he could post it tomorrow.  After that he needed to finish two more orders from his patron before he could start on his never ending homework.  Not to mention he probably would have to spend all day tomorrow working on the song assigned to him by his vocal chord coach.  Oh and he’d have to start working on the paper he’d owe his music major since he was going to COTA for dance and _not_ his voice.  Not to even mention what a shitty day it had turned out socially as well.  Really, he just wanted it to fucking _stop_.  He had so much to do, so many expectations and eyes on him and he felt like he was suffocating.  

He wanted to curl up and cry, and sleep, and play videogames for a month straight.

“Keith?  Are you alright?”  Allura asked and his leg twitched when her hand gently touched his calf that was half on half off the couch.  He took in a deep breath, willing his tears away. 

“Yeah I’m fine, I think I’m just gonna go do homework in my room,”  Keith said, his voice monotone as he picked up his bag from where he had dropped it on the ground.  He didn’t realize he was holding his breath as he made his way to the fridge and grabbed the drink Shiro had gotten him, seeing the mark for extra caramel.  He faintly heard the shower running so he knew Shiro was the bathroom.  He avoided Allura’s worried gaze and turned, heading to his room.  He closed the door behind him, pausing as he took in the room.  He debated on if he should go to his desk, which was pressed against the far wall, shelves of different brands of markers and pencils and pens, while the drawers he knew were filled with different types of paper and sketchbooks.  There were two different lamps on it for when he recorded a drawing video.  If he went to his desk, he would probably be able to get a good amount of his work done.  He’d probably end up hyper focusing and pushing everything that had happened today from his mind.   _Or_ he could go to his bed and tell himself he’d get stuff done, but he’d probably end up wallowing in his own misery, get nothing done and end up slipping into an awful sleep that would leave him feeling even more drained.

The quivering in his legs forced him to make up his mind, and he headed towards his bed, setting his bag down and toeing out of his sneakers before he felt into his bed, curling and facing the wall.  He pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolling through tumblr numbly, reading asks and posts that fans had tagged him in.  They always made him feel a little bit better.  Always helped remind him that someone who didn’t even know him thought he was worth time, that he was talented and good enough.   _They probably wouldn’t if they actually knew you_.  He thought and his scowl returned.  

Keith rarely cried.  Since the age of eight, he had cried a total of five times.  The last time he had cried he was sixteen and it had been because he was drunk as all hell and had nearly died.  Blinding fear and copious amounts of alcohol didn’t mix well.  

Now, that didn’t mean that sometimes Keith didn’t _want_ to cry, or that he sometimes struggled to keep it in.  But he never let himself.  Crying opened yourself up to being vulnerable, and Keith had learned early on that despite all the good things in the world, there was twice as many that would pounce on you the second you showed vulnerability.  He sighed, going to youtube and scrolling through the ‘recommended’ when Lance’s reaction video popped up.  

He hadn’t watched it yet, and honestly he could care less what names Lance had called him.  But he was feeling self destructive and would probably agree, so he clicked on it.  He watched with an arched brow at Lance’s backhanded compliments and genuine surprise at the high notes Keith had been able to reach.  As soon as the video ended Keith knew he must have jinxed himself, because a notification came across his screen.  

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_  @heteroDON’t Haven’t seen a dancing video from you in a while.  Is it because mine blew all of yours out of the water?   >;) ‘  

Great.  Yeah.  Just what he needed to be reminded of.  

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heretoDON’t:_ @lancealot no?  I was in Shiro’s recent video ‘  

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot_ :  @heteroDON’t oh, maybe I missed u then, Shiro is so much better to look at so I didn’t see ur stupid mullet ‘

Keith’s mood dropped about five times lower.  Everyone was insistent on comparing Keith to someone better today.  He was fed up.  His entire body ached from the work out Haggar-his personal trainer from hell- had put him through, threatening a full letter drop in his grade if he didn’t move harder and faster.  He had a million and one homework assignments to do and tests to study for, then some extra so he wouldn’t be swamped with make up work after COTA.  And instead of relaxing, maybe taking some stress out and getting homework done with Minho, he was in his bed.  While Minho was out on a fucking _date_.  Of course this wasn’t the first time, and Keith knew it probably wouldn’t be the last.  And he was angry that he wasn’t enough for Minho, he was angry that they weren’t exclusive or official.  He was angry that despite this he would still want to be with Minho.  

‘   **Red_Saurai** _@heteroDON’t :_ @lancealot oh wow stellar observation.  Really, truly outstanding.  Congrats.  You have eyes.  Now fuck off and leave me alone, ‘  

Keith posted it, taking a long sip of his drink he had almost forgotten in his hand, it on the bed but being held by three fingers to keep it from tipping over and spilling.  He honestly didn’t expect Lance to leave it at that, but he planned on just ignoring it.  He really wasn’t in the mood for it.  What he _wasn’t_ planning on was receiving a DM.  He furrowed his brows, clicking on.  What?  So he wanted to fight without the public seeing?  That’s a first.  

 **@lancealot:**  Dude are you ok?

 **@heteroDON’t:**  tf?  Why do you care?  

 **@lancealot:**  idk, it’s not good for business if you’re actually mad

 **@lancealot:**  like did I overstep a line?  I feel like we have unspoken lines that we don’t cross

 **@lancealot:**  and idk your normal reply would have been to make fun of me or something but you didn’t.

 **@lancealot:**  so i was wondering if you were okay, that and you haven’t updated ur story at all today which isn’t like u??  

 **@heteroDON’t:** I’m fine.  I just had a rlly long day & it’s not over and im not in the mood to fight

 **@lancealot:**  fight?  Idk the last few months I’ve considered it “light banter”, keeps my wits up

 **@heteroDON’t:** whatever

 **@lancealot:**  wow, you must have had a REALLY shitty day.  Wanna talk about it?

 

Keith frowned when he found himself typing.  Lance wasn’t his friend.  Lance was the asshole who harassed him over the internet. Why should he tell him anything?  So that he could screenshot it and post it and spread Keith’s dirty laundry?  Hell no.  He quickly erased the words he had typed, replacing them with new ones.  

 **@heteroDON’t:** I don’t feel like giving you more fuel against me.  I tell you something now so you can screenshot and post it next time we disagree?  Or for it to be held over my head?  Nah man.  

 **@lancealot:**  Geez who do you think I am?  I wouldn’t do that.  I don’t out people's secrets unless they out my secrets.  

 **@lancealot:**  secret keeping loses friends but it can also make friends?  Idk man it’s a sacred thing to keep someone's secret.

 **@lancealot:** but i don’t tell them unless i’m asked too or if someone throws my stuff out there first.

 **@lancealot** :  bc I’m all about fighting fair but if you throw sand in my eyes ima take a crotch shot yk?  

 

Keith let out a tiny breath of amusement through his nose, a silly animated version of Lance taking a crotch shot on someone in the most over dramatic way possible playing through his head.  He looked away from his phone when someone knocked on his door.  

“Keith?”  It was Shiro.  Allura must have said something about him moping off to his room, or he had seen his response to Lance.  

“Uh...hold on a sec,”  Keith mumbled, just loud enough for Shiro to hear through the door.  He looked down at his phone, typing quickly.  

 **@heteroDON’t:**  yeah, thanks for the offer, really it was nice.  But i think i’m just gonna go,

He made his screen go dark before pulling himself out of bed, running a hand through his hair and fixing his clothes from where they had shifted from laying on the bed.  He set his drink down on the bed stand and shuffled to the door, opening it to see Shiro wearing a concerned face.   

“Hey...are you alright?”  He asked quietly and Keith looked down, kicking at the carpet slightly.  

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Just tired is all,”  Keith said and Shiro let his shoulders drop.  

“Is it Minho again?”  He asked quietly and Keith felt his own shoulders drop, glancing up at Shiro.  “Can I come in?”  He asked and Keith moved from the door, shuffling back to his bed before plopping down. Shiro shut the door behind him, sitting on the bed but giving Keith a few inches.  He took a deep breath before giving Keith his full attention.  “What happened?”  Keith crossed his legs under him, tugging at the sheets slightly and not meeting his gaze.

“Mrs. Ginn...she teaches sexuality through dance or something,”  Keith said and Shiro nodded, waiting for Keith to continue.  “She also teaches an excellence class.  She stepped in to give our class tips for being more comfortable or advice on how to be more fluid so we could branch out and explore different roles of dancing which was fine.  You know, whatever it takes right?”  Keith asked, his voice quiet and Shiro nodded, knowing Keith could see it from the corner of his eye.  

“Right,”  regret suddenly filled Keith.  Shiro was so busy as it was.  He had ten times more work and stress on him than Keith did and he wasn’t about to have a mental break down.  No, instead of getting his stuff done or relaxing he had to be in here dealing with his nuisance adopted brother.   _God why do I have to be such a baby?  Shiro doesn’t need this burden._  Keith could feel himself withdrawing into himself.  Shiro was always having to pick Keith up and clean up his messes.  Keith always felt guilty.  Shiro was everyone's favorite and he excelled at nearly everything he did.  Keith was slowing him down.  He always had been.  Since they first met. Keith would always be in Shiro’s shadow, always.  He’d be expected to, if not beat Shiro then to at least meet the standards he had set.  And they were pretty fucking high.  Not many people knew they weren’t related by blood since they did have similar features, so it was assumed natural talent and skill and genius ran through Keith’s veins.  Keith swallowed hard, pushing his emotions down.  

“I don’t know.  She mentioned it to me and said something about our family.  I guess Minho heard and he was mad.  So when I went to meet him at the coffee shop on campus he texted me and said he was busy,” Keith shrugged, dismissing it as if it didn’t affect him.  “Said he was going out with this guy he met earlier today and they were gonna go see a movie or something,”  Keith said quickly, wanting the talk to end.  Shiro’s face fell into disappointment and Keith prayed it wasn’t directed at him.  Disappointing Shiro was worse than death.

“Oh Keith…”  he trailed off and Keith shook his head quickly, looking up to meet Shiro’s gaze.  

“No, no it’s fine.  It’s not like we’re official or anything.  And besides, I really need to get my homework done so it doesn’t matter.  I have videos to upload and shit, so I’m glad he’s occupied and not bothering me,”  Keith said.  His brother clearly didn’t believe him, at all but he let out a sigh, understanding that he wouldn’t get much progress in after Keith had shut down.  So he stood up, heading towards the door but paused with his fingers on the door handle, looking over his shoulder.  

“Alright, but let me say this.  Anyone who won’t smile for your success will definitely smile at your downfall.   **He’s not worth your pain Keith.”**  Shiro said before opening and closing the door behind him, leaving Keith alone.  He laid back in his bed, curling up to face the wall again.  

“He is though,”  he mumbled to himself, feeling robotic as he pulled his phone from his pocket, reading the message on his lock screen.  

 **@lancealot:**  OK, hope you feel better bud.  U can tlk to me if u want

Keith sighed, setting his phone down before forcing himself up and grabbing his drink.  He needed to get work done.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaaat? An update before mindnight? That's on time?? PFT unheard of...heh.  
> ANYWAY as usual please give this story a kudos and share it with anyone you care about so they may enjoy the feels as well. Also, I want to thank everyone who leaves a comment because they literally make me so happy?? Like I love seeing what you guys have to say and what you think will/want to happen and I make it a point to reply to each of of you (gimme dat validation bby) so here's a longer chapter. 
> 
> A lot of you mentioned concerns about Minho's character and wellll I feel like this chapter shows a little bit of both sides of their relationship, and kind of points to the fact Keith is struggle bussing pretty hard. Also, before there's any confusion! Thace is Keith's biological dad, but some stuff happened that will be revealed later on. He was adopted at the same time that Shiro was by a couple. And they both are fluent in English and most Asian centered languages along with a few others. Reasons for that will probably come up soon but I just wanted to make sure you guys know I wasn't trying to say they were the same language or something .-.


	5. Dr. Racist and skype

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets kicked out of his class and is lowkey pining for Keith

Lance let out a small chuckle, smiling down at his phone.  

 **‘  Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @smolhandsbutibite Bigfoot.  Thoughts?  ‘

‘ **Grentech** _@smolhandsbutibite:_ @heteroDON’t too many.  May have to discuss in another collab ‘  

‘   **NativePineapple** _@fluffynotfat:_  @heteroDON’t @smolhandsbutibite I just wanna say that I do NOT count as bigfoot ‘ 

‘   **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t:_ @smolhandsbutibite @fluffynotfat no ofc not.  You’re PIZZA FOOT  ‘

‘   **NativePineapple** _@fluffynotfat:_ @heteroDON’t @smolhandsbutibite yOU TOLD HIM ABOUT THE PIZZA THING?!  ‘  

‘   **Greentech** _@smolhandsbutibite:_ @heteroDON’t @fluffynotfat yES BC YOU TOOK OUT THE ENTIRE PIZZA HUNK.  ALL OF IT.  I HAD TO MOURN TO SOMEONE OTHER THAN LANCE.  ‘

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @heteroDON’t @fluffynotfat @smolhandsbutibite HEY!  I’m grEAT to mourn too.  And I lost that pizza too. I’m a victim here ‘  

‘   **Spacedad** **™** _@mommakingadifference:_ @lancealot @heteroDON’t @fluffynotfat @smolhandsbutibite what...what happened to the pizza…?  ‘  

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @mommakingadifference DEATH IS WHAT HAPPENED.  Also where did the mullet go??  ‘  

‘   **Spacedad™** _@mommakingadifference:_  @lancealot he’s in the studio, we’ve got a lot coming up so he’s getting ahead on a few videos and assignments, ‘  

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @mommakingadifference studio?  Event? ‘  

‘   **Greentech** _@smolhandsbutibite:_ @lancealot leave @mommakingadifference alone.  I can TASTE your pinning from here ‘  

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_ @smolhandsbutibite i am NOT pining for anyone!  Except maybe for @mommakingadifference bc have u SEEN those arms?  

‘ **Red_Samurai** _@heteroDON’t :_  @lancealot I’m trying to WORK stop blowing everyones notifications up.  Also…@mommakingadifference makes muscle poses in the mirror when he thinks no one is watching ‘  

‘   **Spacedad™** _@mommakingadifference:_ @heteroDON’t KEITH  ‘  

‘   **Greentech** _@smolhandsbutibite:_ @heteroDON’t *wheeze*   ‘  

Lance could relate, as he was struggling to not let out his laughter that was bubbling inside of him.  He let out a few tiny giggles, ducking his head and tried to control his breathing as his classmates looked over at him.  He quickly swallowed down his laughter, trying to force his smile down as well. However, the image of Keith peeking around the corner of some wall to see Shiro making ridiculous poses and faces at the mirror, all while talking himself up had Lance chuckling again.  

“Mr. McClain would you like to tell the rest of the class what’s so funny?”  the professor asked and Lance’s head shot up, looking around to see all eyes on him.  He chuckled again, this time nervous as he scratched the back of his neck.  

“I mean...do you really want to know or are you just asking to get me quiet?”  Lance asked and a few people in the class laughed which earned him a deeper scowl from the teacher.  

“Just _try_ to contain your immaturity so the people serious about their education don’t have their time wasted by someone who doesn’t...appreciate it,”  he said, a slight edge to his voice as he sent Lance a rather nasty look and Lance’s brows shot up.  

“Uhm, no offence _sir_ but I have straight A’s.  I have a full ride and I’m double majoring and still manage to be in the top 5% at this school,” Lance said and the older man narrowed his eyes.  

“Taking loans isn’t a full ride.  You have to pay it back.  Figures you’d need it though...someone of your...background wouldn’t be able to afford this school on your own,”  He sneered and Lance’s jaw dropped, looking around the class to see if anyone would say anything.  No one met his eye, people ducking their heads to avoid being looked at.  Lance knew there were racists at this school, he knew there were a lot of them.  98% of this school was white and though a lot of them were great and fun to hang out with, there were just as many who would make passive aggressive racists comments, passing them off as a joke or something so that if one of the few people of color at the school got mad then they could use it as an excuse.

“ _Excuse me?_ My _background_?  Are you referring to the fact I’m wearing makeup when you need it more than I do or are you talking about my skin color?  You talking about the queer thing or the race thing?”  Lance asked, voice a bit louder.  The teacher slammed his ruler onto the desk, causing many to jump but it made Lance angrier.  

“That is _enough_ McClain.  Hold in your noises or leave my respectable class.  Not everyone in here wants to end up on the streets causing trouble, or directing traffic with their make up, lighter or whatever you call it,” the old man snapped.  Lance couldn’t believe this.  Of course, the _one_ day Nyma is sick and out of class this happens.  If anyone, she would have handed this guys _ass_ to him and gone off on him using statistics and examples and dates that she had remembered for the specific reason of telling off racists scumbags and sexists, homophobic pigs.  But she wasn’t there today.  Just Lance, whose fists were clenched tight enough so that his fingernails dug into his palm.  He hoped he broke skin as he slathered on the fakest, sweetest, most tooth rotting smile on his face he had ever been able to conjure.

“Ofcourse.  Sorry for the disturbance...Dr. Racist.”  Lance added on, his tone sweet but you’d have to be death to miss the venom.  

 

~_~

 

“So...tell me again who you got kicked out of your general calculus class?”  Miss. Finnie asked, moving a stack of papers around as her freshmen students went through their warm ups.  Lance spun in her chair, taking a deep breath.  He liked Miss. Finnie, and over time he liked to believe they had become somewhat friends.  After all, she let him come in here when she had classes or technically when no one was supposed to be in here.  She understood that sometimes Lance, he just needed to dance.  Needed to dance to get the weight of the world off of his shoulders for a moment.  So when he had come in here a few hours earlier when she had no class and thrown some music on she hadn’t questioned it.  Knowing it must have been pretty big if he had showed up in the middle of what should have been his class and danced as hard as he had before even stretching or changing.  

“You know Dr. Graves?”  Lance asked and she nodded, sitting on the edge of her desk, leaning on one hand and letting her cheek rest on that shoulder.  

“Yes I know him,” she said and Lance took a deep breath.  

“Well you could say that I helped him come out of the closet today as a huge racist.  I’m talking about some _seriously_ messed up stuff here.  He tried to be subtle at first which he was terrible at.  Talking about how I couldn’t afford this school and would drown in debt and I wouldn’t make the grades if I was on my phone in class,”  Lance said and Miss. Finnie furrowed her brows.  

“Lance.  You’re in the top 5% of the school in grades.  As your professor he should be aware that of your grades,” she said and Lance leaned forward.  

“ _I know_.  So I called him out on it and said I have a full ride and straight A’s, and he implied I’d end up on the streets and causing trouble.  So I called him Dr. Racist,”  

“You did not.”

“I DID.  And oh man it just went downhill from there.  He said mexicans were nothing but trouble and that I probably was illegal.  So naturally I slapped him with my green card, informed him that my permanent resident card was on it’s way and informed him that I’m not mexican.  I’m cuban.  Then I was told to, and I quote “get the fuck out”.  So once I’m more calm I’m going to go talk to Iverson and show him the video some guy took and sent to me.  Got the whole thing,”  Lance said and Miss. Finnie took a deep breath.  

“Well...I wouldn’t be surprised.  Students and teachers alike have filed complaints for sexual harassment or sexism.  Him being racist was kind of expected,” she said and Lance raised a brow.  

“ _Really_ .  Isn’t that interesting,” Lance hummed and she snorted, getting up as the warm up music ended.  Lance looked down at his phone, biting at his lip.  It was Tuesday so Pidge and Hunk were both in class, and Lance had another three hours before his next class, this one to be precise.  He had decided Tuesdays were his slow days and usually spent most of the day either relaxing, working on homework, or editing a video since he only had two classes.  He went to twitter, biting his lip before heading to his dm’s.  He hadn’t messaged Keith privately since Friday, and Keith hadn’t messaged him.  He bit his lip, thinking back to what Pidge had said a while ago.  His fans had been pushing him for a collab with Keith for a _long_ time, and he knew that his views would skyrocket if he did a video-or two with him.  But, thinking back...Keith _really_ did irritate him sometimes.  Most of the time it was just banter and nothing serious to Lance, just a ploy for more attention.  Lance wasn’t above admitting that.  He did tons of attention stunts, all the time.  It was crazy when people thought he was genuine with some of the things he did on camera.  

But Keith sometimes...just made him really fucking mad.  Now granted, times when he would legit be angry and come for Keith over twitter were more seldom than they had been at the beginning, but they still happened.  Lance wasn’t even sure what about Keith made him so annoyed sometimes.  They’d be having a mild thread going on and suddenly he’d be aggravated for no reason.  Maybe it was because he knew Keith was incredibly talented, and clearly had the means to produce good content.  He was probably richer than he let on if he had access to things like a ‘studio’ to record his music in.  Maybe Lance just felt threatened.  Keith was praised for his dancing and singing, but also because he could piece things together in movies and books and could pick out foreshadowing that Lance wouldn’t have seen if it slapped him in that face.  Maybe it was because he was a huge jerk to his fans.  Lance had seen a few videos of Keith ignoring fangirls or being rather cold towards them, even one where he had cursed someone out.  Or MAYBE it was that stupid ass ugly mullet.  

 _‘Some people appreciate my hair,’_  thoughts of the image Keith had posted with the other person gripping his hair flooded his mind and he sucked in a quick breath, shaking his head.  He still couldn’t believe that had happened.

Whether or not he should interact with Keith seemed to be decided for him as he got a notification from the mullet head himself.  

 **@heteroDON’t:** Hey, I have a huge crush on you  

Lance’s face turned red, his body tensing.  What the fuck?   Was this some kind of joke.  

 **@heteroDON’t:** like, I wanna suck on you

 _What the hell?_  Lance frowned, instantly recognizing that this wasn’t Keith.  He rarely used the word ‘like’ to begin a sentence, at least online he didn’t.  That and Keith wouldn’t say that if his life depended on it.  

 **@lancealot:**  lol dunno who you are but you should sign out of this account

 **@heteroDON’t:** akkkksjbefpoblei

 **@heteroDON’t:**  IGNORE EVERYTHING THAT WAS JUST SENT TO YOU

 **@heteroDON’t:** A PERSON STOLE MY PHONE

 **@lancealot:** lol it’s cool. And just a random person?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** no, my uh...partner

Lance rose his brows, his curiosity rising.  Partner?  Was Keith dating someone non-binary?  Or was it not official?  Complicated maybe?  Or were they dance partners?  Partners in CRIME?  

 **@lancealot** :  Partner?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** yeah, romantic partner

 **@lancealot:**  Oh cool, are they nb?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** lol no, he’s very much a boy

 **@lancealot:**  Why don’t you call him your bf then?  If you don’t mind me asking that is?

 **@heteroDON’t:** ah...we’re not really official...there’s a few uh...problems that keep it from being labeled.  It doesn’t really matter though, I’m his.  

 

Lance frowned at that, something about the way Keith worded that had a nasty feeling settling in his gut.  It sounded like something Nyma would say when her and Rolo were having trouble for the hundredth time.

 **@lancealot:**  Well, I’m sure anyone who can put up with that mullet is worth any trouble lol

 **@heteroDON’t:**  yeah I guess.  Anyway i g2g, calculus is fucking me up

 **@lancealot:**  calculus?   If you need any help let me know.  I’m really good at it.

 **@heteroDON’t:** uh...thanks but I think I got it

 **@lancealot:**  okay cool

 

~_~

 

Lance threw himself on the couch, practically purring at the smell of whatever Hunk was making.  It was Friday, he had one more week until Clash of the Arts and he had just gotten home from a pretty intense class.  His thighs shook with a pleasant burn that came from pushing his body harder than usual.  He would need to take a cold bath and do some more stretches to keep from being sore later on tomorrow, maybe pop some ibuprofen.  

“Miss Finnie running you ragged?”  Pidge asked and Lance hummed, tilting his head back as he enjoyed a moment of rest.  

“Yeah, I had to rinse off in the freaking stalls they have for the theater and dance people to share because I was so sweaty.  If I had changed I would have soaked my other clothes,” Lance said and while he kept his eyes closed he could practically hear the disgusted look on Pidge’s face.

“If you help me with topping prep I’ll give you a massage later,” Hunk called from the kitchen and Lance sat up as fast as his sore body would allow.  

“Done,” he said, picking himself up and walking into the kitchen.  Hunk’s mother was a professional masseuse, and she had taught him plenty of her tricks.  

It wasn’t long before everything was prepared and eaten, all of them winding down.  Lance was splayed across the table that they rarely used, in basketball shorts as Hunk rubbed the lotion on him, working his muscles into a relaxed state.  

“Hunk, my man.  If you weren’t adamant that you’re straight I would date the hell out of you,” Lance told him for what must have been the millionth time of their friendship.  Hunk snorted, shaking his head.  

“You only say that because I can cook and know how to use my hands,”  He said and Lance couldn’t help but to let out an immature giggle.  

 

 **(** **Words spoken in bold are being spoken in spanish)**

 

 **“You’re also pretty good to cuddle.  I’m jealous of Shay,”** he said and Hunk hummed, pressing his fingers into Lance’s shoulder and rousing a pleased grunt from his friend.  

 **“Well, I’m not sure you should be.  We’re not official exactly.  The distance thing is still a factor,”** Hunk said and Lance hummed, biting at his lip as he thought.  

 **“Doesn’t she live like near Vegas?”**  Lance asked.  

 **“Yeah, she goes to a college near there but is applying to Marmora and Altea.  She said she had some people at Marmora who could vouch for her.  Apparently that’s the way to get in.  Impress an instructor or senior that’s really good in your area and have them vouch for you at Marmora.  Altea is a bit more lenient but having a voucher ups your chances of being considered,** ”  Hunk told him and Lance’s ears seemed to perk at that.  It’s not like he would ever apply to one of those colleges, they didn’t have astrophysics there.  But, the dancer inside of him couldn’t help but to lift his head.  That was good to know, he could tell Nyma that.  Maybe she could get in good and have people vouch for her.  

 **“Well I’m rooting for her.  She has an amazing voice,”**  Lance said, turning his head and pulling one of his arms out from where he had folded them under his face, looking at his phone which had buzzed.  He raised a brow, seeing he had been sent a DM.

 **@heteroDON’t:**  hey...are you still willing to help with calculas?

 **@lancealot:**  I thought you were good?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** I can feel your smirk from here.  If you won’t help I’ll find someone else.  

Lance quickly shifted his face into a neutral look when he realized he had been in fact smirking.

 **@lancealot:**  alright alright calm down.  I’ll help.  Are you down to skype?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** uh...yeah, what’s your user? 

 **@lancealot:**  it’s the same as my twitter, but like don’t call right away.  Can you wait a few minutes?  

 **@heteroDON’t:** why?  

 **@lancealot:**  bc I’m getting rubbed down and it feels good af

 **@heteroDON’t:**  EW!  Why are you messaging me then?!

 **@lancealot:**  omg I didn’t mean it like that!  I’m getting a massage from Hunk!

Lance could feel his face flush bright red at how it could be taken.  

 **@heteroDON’t:** whatever man, just message me when you’re good.  

 

~.~

 

Thirty minutes later Lance was at his desk in his computer chair, sitting in front of his laptop.  He may or may not have taken a fast shower and put on some natural looking makeup. He told himself it wasn’t to impress Keith or anything, no.  It wasn’t.  However, he couldn’t let this rival see him in a state of anything less than perfect.  Also he may take selfies later or get on snapchat.  He took a deep breath, checking to make sure the lamps he had set up were giving him good lighting before he hit the ‘call’ button.  It started ringing and he held his breath.  It was answered on the fourth ring and Keith’s face showed up, clearly not paying attention to the camera or the screen, looking somewhere off camera.  

“He-”  Lance stopped, hearing another voice in the room.  

“Wae geuege doum-eul cheonghani?”  (((Why are you asking him for help?)))   The voice asked, a soft male tone to it.  Keith opened his mouth to speak, words easily tumbling from his mouth with an accent Lance didn’t know Keith could possess.  

“Geuga hal su issdagohaessgi ttaemun-e.  Keopi hanjan gajyeowa kkaeeoissge hae,”   (((Because he said he could do it, now go get us some coffee so we can stay awake)))   Keith said and Lance took in a small breath, wondering if he should be listening to this.  He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but for some reason it just felt _private_.  Like a secret part of Keith.  

“Joh-a, god dol-aolgeoya.”   (((Fine, I’ll be back soon)))   the other voice said, followed by the sound of the door closing.  If Lance didn’t know any better he could have sword Keith rolled his eyes before looking back at the screen, jumping when he saw Lance staring back at him. 

“Jesus Lance!  Why didn’t you say anything?”  Keith barked and Lance snickered at the other’s flustered state.  

“Well I started too but then you were talking to someone and I didn’t want to be rude,”  Lance said, trying to calm his beating heart.  He probably wouldn’t ever admit it, but the idea of Keith being bilingual was kind of hot.  Keith bit his lip, scratching the back of his neck before his tongue darted out, coating pink lips in a thin sheen of saliva. Lance’s eyes followed the action with hyper focus, glad Keith wouldn’t be able to know where exactly he was looking.  

“Yeah sorry about that, he’s been kind of pissy lately,”  Keith explained and Lance tilted his head.  Who was this person?  The mystery lover?  

“It’s fine, what’s he upset about?”  Lance asked, trying to pry without being obvious.  Keith let out a long blow of air, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.  

“Everything in the world.  Can’t blame him though, everyone is pretty stressed out right now.  Lot’s coming up on top of midterms.  He’s just tired I guess,”  Keith said and the amount of excuses he poured out made Lance narrow his eyes.   _Oh he’s totally talking about the mystery guy_.  Lance shrugged.  

“I understand that, my college is going crazy recently, cleaning everything and trying to look impressive or something.  It won’t help much,” Lance laughed.  Keith offered half a smile before taking a breath.  

“So you said you could help with calculus?”  He asked and Lance nodded, plastering on a confident smirk.  

“Hell yeah I can.  Show me what you got mullet,”  He said, confidence leaking from him.  No matter what the hell Keith did with someone else, or what he spoke or how he looked biting his lip or licking them.  He wouldn’t be wavered.  He may not be the best at talking to Keith or interacting with him at all, but he’d own any type of math’s ass.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where did you guys go?? Like...half the people that usually comment didn't say anything on the last chapter and idk I'm like .-. was it bad? was it good? ehh .---. 
> 
> Anyway here's the next chapter for you guys! Hope you liked it, idk I feel like it's kind of dull? BUT the next chapter will be everyone getting ready for COTA and stuff so hang in there! Idk if they're going to see each other in person next chapter or the one after that but we'll see I guess. Anyway please leave a kudos, share the story and leave a comment!


	6. A jacket and lost adults™

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith get their special jackets, have a photoshoot with Allura and then lose Coran and Alfor

 

‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:   _ That feeling when you get back your calculus test ‘  

|

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  @heteroDON’t HOW’D WE DO?!  ‘  

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:  _  well…  ‘  

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‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _   you’re making me nervous ‘

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:   _ I GOT A 100 ‘  

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot:  _ AND YOU DOUBTED MY SKILLS  ‘  

 

~_~

 

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  I always knew there was something different about McMullet.  And now I know...he wears @AleinPilot ‘s high heels  ‘  

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t: _  Okay so 1, I didn’t know Shiro was livestreaming and 2 I DON’T WEAR HIGH HEELS ‘  

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  BOI TF YOU DON’T WE ALL HEARD YOU ‘ 

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‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  “Alllllurraaaa where are those black high heels you bought?  The badass looking ones?”  ‘  

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot:  _ “In my room why?”  “Cause I wanna use them for Thursday”  “oh okay but you owe me if they break “  BOI ‘  

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:   _ you’re really starting to get on my nerves Lance  ‘

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  you’re just bitter bc you’ve been exposed ™.  Don’t worry though, nothing wrong with a guy trying to look good 4 his date  xD ‘ 

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heterDON’t:   _ FOR THE LAST TIME I DO NOT WEAR HIGH HEELS IN PUBLIC ON A NORMAL BASIS ‘  

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot:_  oh so you wear them in private?  This is priceless, truly it is ‘  

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:   _ You are so obnoxious omg.  Do you really want to know why I needed them?  ‘  

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot:  _ please share with the class oh temperamental one  ‘  

*five minutes later*

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‘   **Red_Samurai** _ @heteroDON’t:   _ [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmv3P7DyFuQ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmv3P7DyFuQ)  There.Class was paired up w/ animators. Suck my dck Lance. Also If I DID wear heels in public it would be fine bc my ass looks great. ‘

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‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot: _  /oh/  ‘

 

Keith smirked to himself in victory, shaking his head.  Shiro nudged him slightly and Keith looked up, making his screen go dark before sliding his phone into his pocket.  

“Alright well, I know that a lot of you won’t be here for Monday’s class because you’re leaving for Clash of the Arts.  So if you haven’t already done the work you’re going to miss make sure you’re keeping track so you know what you need to get done when you get back.  I wish all of you the best of luck,”  their science instructor said, dismissing the class.  Keith got up, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he followed Shiro out of the row.  Shiro stretched his arms up with a pleased sigh.  

“I think one of my favorite things about COTA is the fact we’re excused from the rest of our classes after noon on the Friday before.”  Keith said once they were in the hallway.  Shiro chuckled.  

“That’s true, but it’s not like we won’t be busy today.  Gotta pack, finish our editing for some of the videos,” Shiro started to list.  

“Oh, we’re supposed to meet Allura and her dads at Altea around three,”  Keith added and Shiro nodded, continuing. 

“Coran isn’t her dad Keith,”  Shiro said and Keith narrowed his eyes at his brother.  

“Shiro.  Coran raised her just as much as Alfor did, they  _ live _ together, and they send each other goo-goo eyes all the time when they think no one is looking.  Coran is just way more obvious about it.  You can’t tell me that they’re not together,” Keith said and Shiro puckered his lips a little. 

“Well yeah but...we shouldn’t label something between two people if they haven’t said they’re comfortable with a label.   _ You _ should understand that Keith,”  Shiro said and Keith scowled, knowing exactly what he was hinting at.  He rolled his eyes, looking away and Shiro sighed.  “Anyway, Alfor want’s to take us all to dinner before COTA since Coran is going as well. Which means-”  

“Dress nice since we’ll most likely be going to the most expensive place in Vegas to eat,”  Keith finished, sending an amused look at Shiro who sent him a playful scowl.  

“Brat,” 

“Mom,” Keith shot back, and Shiro scoffed as they walked across the quad.  

“ _ Someone  _ has to keep you alive,”  Shiro chuckled.  

( **Text written in bold is being spoken in Japanese)**

“Shiro!  Keith!”  Both of them turned at the sound of their names, seeing a professor walk towards them, taking the long way around on the sidewalk instead of just going through the grass, stepping over any crack in the ground. Slav. He was a highly respected man all around the world, being recognized across the globe as a legit genius.  He had doctorate degrees in countless things, and was currently bouncing back and forth between Marmora and Altea as a teacher while he spent time studying different forms of art.  He had explained it in a really fancy, long way that Keith couldn’t be bothered to remember though.  The man had won countless awards and achievements, met presidents and and queens.  However, for as respectable as his brain was, he could be a bit goofy, and sometimes rather taxing seeing as he had severe OCD.  For some reason he had taken a liking to Keith and Shiro, something about them being brothers and speaking another language and looks, Keith wasn’t sure, he had zoned him out after the first two minutes.  

Slav let out a few pants as he stood on the very edge of the sidewalk, Keith and Shiro being a few feet on the grass, their heads turned over their shoulders to look at him.  

**“Oh, I’m glad to have found you boys!  I was worried I’d miss you.  I would have left sooner but I had to make sure the window was closed, then I had to check a few more times** **_just_ ** **to make sure,”** Slav said and the Kogane boys glanced at each other, not knowing-and not wanting to ask-about what window he was talking about.  

**“Uh...okay?  Was there a reason you were looking for us?”** Shiro asked and Slav nodded once, then twice, then a third time.  

**“Yes, Headmaster Kolivan asked me to tell you that he’d like you both to report to his office.  I believe he wishes to speak to you about Clash of the Arts,”**  Slav said and they once again shared glances, this time slightly worried and concerned.

**“Alright, we’ll head right over there,”**  Shiro said and a slightly amused grin came across Slav’s face.  He brought his hand to his chin, stroking it once, twice, three times as he chuckled.  

**“I’d hurry, in this reality he’s 98.3245% more likely to be impatient than in an alternate reality.  However in an alternate reality where he is more patient my calculations show that he’s also highly allergic to peanut butter and shellfish, in which case he would probably die.  That is of course if in that reality he still loved peanut butter and shellfish.  There** **_is_ ** **a high possibility of him not liking it though.  It’s quite funny when you consider-”**  Slav rattled on and Shiro cleared his throat, causing Keith to hide his smirk.  Shiro didn’t mean to be rude, but it was common knowledge that sometimes the tendencies he couldn’t help grated Shiro’s nerves.  Allura had scolded him for snapping at the genius, but Keith liked when it happened.  Not because he had anything against Slav, but it just made his older brother appear more human, not some God that was on an unreachable pedestal.  It was easy to forget that he was a college kid too, that despite his leadership skills and how much it looked like he had his life together, he was still young and trying to figure out how to deal with things and grow up.  

**“We should really get to his office.  I don’t want to keep the headmaster waiting,”**  Shiro said politely and Slav’s eyes widened a bit before he nodded.  

**“Oh!  Yes of course!  Hurry up then, be on your way,”**  Slav said, quickly shooing them away.  Keith waved, following behind Shiro who had said a quick goodbye before turning and walked farther into the grass.  Keith lengthened his stride to keep up.

“He knows we speak English, but he never speaks to us in it,”  Keith said and Shiro shrugged. 

“He also knows we’re fluent in most Asian based languages, French and then aren’t you working on Latin?”  Shiro asked and Keith nodded. 

“It’ll come in handy if I ever have to exorcise the ghost that lives in the building,” Keith said and Shiro looked at him from the corner of his eyes.  

“Keith you can’t be serious about this, we already went over-”  

“I’m TELLING you Shiro.  Not only do they exist, but they’re little asshats most of the time and one is in our building.  The U.S. Government conjures them and uses them to spy on us,”  Keith said, his face showing no sign of joking.  Shiro let out a heavy sigh.  

“Okay Keith, okay.  Hey do you have a ten on you?”  Shiro asked and Keith’s brow furrowed.  

“Yeah why?”  He asked and Shiro rounded the live studio building, heading to where the campus rental shack was.  You could rent a scooter or a golf cart for a certain amount of time seeing as the campus was pretty massive.  You had to show a driver's license, student ID and sign out the one you were getting and for how long.  At first Keith thought that that was really stupid, but had eventually been thankful for the private schools planning ahead.  He would have been late to so many classes if not for those things.  

“Oh, yeah I guess,” Keith said pulling out his wallet before digging out the money.  He handed it to Shiro, letting him talk to the girl at the counter.  She was a freshman, a southern accent and just barely tan skin, freckles on her cheeks and red hair.  She turned into a sputtering mess when Shiro smiled at her, revealing herself as a fan.  Keith sighed.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like his fans or that he didn’t like interacting with them.  In fact quite the opposite, he loved the hell out of them and appreciated them.  But it was really draining and filled him with horrible anxiety.  He watched Shiro take a selfie with her on her phone and when she looked at Keith he tensed.  

“Do you mind if I get a picture with you?”  She asked and Keith felt his hands get clammy.  He swallowed, glancing at Shiro who raised a brow before looking back at the girl.  

“Uh...no of course not,” he said, moving so he was pressed against the counter, he leaned in, making sure there was some space between them so that they didn’t actually touch.  She leaned up on her tip toes, smiling at the camera.  Keith’s face morphed from a forced smile to surprise as the dog filter hit his face.  She snapped the picture before he cold move, grinning at him, saving and posting it before he could blink.  

“Thanks!  Here’s the keys to your rental.  It needs to be back in three hours,” she said and Shiro took them, thanking her before dragging Keith away, knowing his younger counterpart was trying to get over the fact he had just had the dog filter put on him.

“You’ll live,” Shiro said as he found the golf cart.  Kolivan’s office was literally on the other side of campus, and it could take a  _ long _ time to get there if they walked.  Keith got in, watching Shiro slide into the driver’s place.  Keith stuck a hand out to steady himself as it started moving.  

“So what do you think he wants?”  Keith asked and Shiro shrugged.  

“He probably just wants to make sure we have the performance down.  Oh and we’re probably getting our jackets too,” Shiro said and a small smile crossed Keith’s face.  

“I still can’t believe I’m a face for dance” Keith said and Shiro laughed.  

“You deserve it Keith.  If they allowed first years to be face for dance you would have been one last year as well.  But instead you were a face for vocals,”  Shiro praised and Keith let out a small sigh.  Being a ‘face’ was kind of a big deal.  They were one or two people were chosen from second years to seniors.  For dance, there was usually five guys and five girls, the seniors  and third years usually having two people.  For vocals there were just five of them.  It was different for every category, but those were the two that mattered to Keith.  Last year he had gone to COTA for vocals since he had been asked to be a face.  He was asked again this year but he had chosen to go with Dance.  If things worked out then hopefully he could do two events for music and two for dance, each as a face.  If he did then he would make school history as the first person to be a face for four years. 

Being a ‘face’ meant that you represented your school and department, showing off the skill level of the school.  Each school did it, it was a tradition and an exciting way to start an event like that.  It was also a little bit of a competition between the schools, seeing who could do what better.  Each group could do up to three dances, and this year Marmora was doing the three.  They had been working on them for the past two months whenever they had free time.  Keith was the youngest of the group but thankfully he wasn’t shoved to the very back for the entirety of two dances.  The third dance was just him and Shiro.

Then, during the actual event you were the ones talking to the press and getting mentioned, normally having to talk to the scouts and agents to promote yourself and point out others from your school, which meant once you were named a ‘face’ everyone wanted to be on your good side.  

Shiro had been one last year, but for theater.  This year he was going for dance.  

“Sooo, are you excited to see people you met last year at COTA?”  Keith asked and Shiro shrugged, pulling up to the administrative office.  

“Yeah, I think most of them are coming back.  We have to make sure to see them during the week when we’re not busy,”  Shiro said and Keith hummed, walking next to him as they showed the guards at the door their student ID’s, being given the passes that had been printed for them.  

“Are you excited to see... _ Matt? _ ”  Keith asked and Shiro was silent, the only indication he had heard was the slightly blush on his cheeks.  Keith smirked, already knowing the answer.  

“Well...uh...I mean...yeah of course,” he coughed, his blush getting brighter.  “Haven’t seen him since last year.  He was really cool,” Shiro said and Keith put his hand to his mouth to let out a laugh.  

“Mhm, are you going to finally ask him out?”  Keith asked and Shiro seemed to choke on air.  

“Wha-what?!  Why would I?  Pft!” He scoffed, looking away and grumbling, more to himself than to Keith, “can’t believe I’m hearing this from my kid brother,” Keith snorted, not saying anything else as they got to the headmaster's office, showing their school ID’s and passes to the guy on duty.  He nodded to them, opening the door and allowing them in.

Security was pretty tight all around campus, it being a private university.  The first headmaster, when he built this school had been filthy rich, wanting to provide top education for the best of the best without throwing them into debt.  Kolivan was his son, and inherited the family’s many businesses and the school.  No one knew exactly how rich he was or everything he owned/ran.  But it was a lot.  After all they had state of the art buildings and equipment, instructors that were known around the world for their talents and performances.  Hell, they had a spa, a huge pool and an extensive gym on campus for the students to use free of charge.  Of course there were limits to certain things, like you could only go to the spa a certain amount of times a month (not including the top 8% who were given all access as a privilege) and you had to buy your pass for the gym or rent towels at the pool, but considering everything?  Marmora treated their students right.  Their school code was “knowledge or death”, and in order to gain the knowledge this school taught it meant many nights and days of running yourself ragged.  So to help keep their students healthy physically and mentally they offered services to help them let out steam and relax.  During midterm and finals season the library was often filled with different types of baby animals and coloring stations, and the common rooms in the door were stocked full of snacks and drinks that were supposed to be healthier than overdosing on coffee. 

But, the price of getting everything pretty close to free and being able to have high scholar ships meant that somewhere somebody had to pay.  Now, a lot of it came from donations, which actually were pretty abundant, coming from art enthusiasts and investors alike.  sponsors that wanted the best of the best to wear their logo or approve their drink.  However that wasn’t always enough.  It varied depending on who you were and what you could do for the school/what you did while you were there.  Some people, who weren’t as good as they should be would have to pay the entire tuition themselves which was-really, really expensive- or with outside scholarships.  Some people who had full rides and some extra-like Keith- would make deals with the school, joining clubs that would go out and perform at an event, and have their entire share or the cut go to the school, or, once you graduated you could give the school 5 to 10% of your annual paycheck once you were in a position where you made a living wage.  Sometimes you didn’t have to do that, if you became big and made bank then all that was asked of you was to mention the school every once in awhile and talk about how it shaped you as a performer.  

Keith, wasn’t required to pay, it hadn’t been part of the deal he had made with the school.  He had a full ride for dancing, but the scholarships he had been offered for his singing kept him from having to work as they covered basic living expenses and extra classes that weren’t part of his plan.  Because of his platform on youtube, and the fact that scouts sought him out, wondering if he and his brother both shared the exquisite talent, the school expected huge things in his future.  Keith was a 20 year old who had the weight of the world on his shoulders.  No room to slip up or hesitate.  No place for mistakes.  His every move was watched.  His behavior on social media was only tolerated because it got him more of a following, but recently had been informed by an administrator to calm it down with some of the stuff he posted.  He couldn’t crumble under any sort of weight that pressed on him, because if he did then he’d never catch up or surpass Shiro.  He had to prove to everyone he was more than just “Takeshi Shirogane Kogane’s brother”.  No, he could be so much more.  He wanted to be recognized as his own person.  “Riku Kenneth Kogane,” or “Keith Kogane”, really anything other than “Shiro’s kid brother” would do it.

“Ah, the Kogane boys.  Glad you could make it,” Kolivan said and Shiro gave him an apologetic look, quickly taking a seat in one of the chairs as Keith did the same.  The other three guys who were ‘faces’ were there as well, an African-American with deep skin, his afro pulled into a ponytail that sat towards the back of his head.  He was a senior, his name Donovan.  One time they had been practicing really late and Keith was on the verge of being sick, so he deliriously called him ‘dino-man’ which brought the practice to an end because the others couldn’t stop laughing.  There was Erick who was puerto rican, another senior.   He could be a huge flirt sometimes, and had no problem grabbing Keith’s ass during rehearsals.  It was funny, really.  But he had caught Keith by surprise once and had ended up flipped over the second year’s shoulders and slammed on the ground.  He had stopped after that for some reason.  Then there was Oliver, who was paler than Keith, dark brown eyes and dyed blue hair that was up in a messy bun.  He was  _ cute _ .  Built muscular similar to Shiro, very light stubble and a laugh that drop panties.  Alas, Keith was taken...kind of, and Oliver hadn’t shown any interest in any guys.  He was a third year, leaving Keith as the youngest.  

“Sorry, we got here as fast as we could.  Slav got...distracted,” Shiro said and Kolivan nodded in understanding.  

“It’s fine.  Now that you’re here though let’s get to the chase.  I’m sure you all want your Face jackets and to get out of here so you can do whatever you need to do to get ready for Clash of the Arts.  So tell me, is what I asked of you done?”  He asked and the boys nodded.  

“We’ve got three dances.  Two with all of us, and one with just the Koganes,” Donovan said and Kolivan raised an eyebrow, looking at the group.  

“Was it a group decision to have only two people perform a song?”  He asked and Oliver nodded this time. 

“It was, we wanted to show Keith off because he dances like a senior in his second year.  That and I don’t think you can argue that seeing the famous Kogane boys perform together isn’t something people don’t want to see,” he said.  The last name ‘Kogane’ was known throughout the performing arts world, many of them being skilled in one aspect or the other.  It wasn’t passed on through genes, which many people didn’t know.  Most of the ‘family’ was adopted in.  His adoptive mom used to be a huge actor overseas, his adoptive father  being a competitive ice skater.  Due to their careers and the travel, they both knew a couple different languages between them so communicating was easy.  The adoptive father was a Kogane, and when the two married she became a Kogan as well.  However a few years into their marriage and the father- Mori,  received a career ending injury.  Never to skate again, he had to use a cane at the age of twenty-two.  The mother-Mary- was grief stricken and slowly peeled herself away from the spot light.  But as Koganes you  _ had _ to be participating in some type of art.  So, they chose the art of language, investing hours upon hours of studying and practicing.  They became translators, and both ended up landing roles in movies all over the world because they could already speak the language and wouldn’t have to be taught.  

However, being a ‘Kogane’ wasn’t why he was here.  No.  He was here because he had dancing blood in him.  His birth mother was the most beautiful dancer, talented, strong, stubborn and fierce.  When she danced people couldn’t help but to turn their heads and stare.  That wasn’t just it though.  Oh no.  His mother had had the voice of a goddess.  When she sang the heavens opened up, choirs of angels joining her.  He remembered looking up at her in amazement any time she moved, any time she opened her mouth to scold him.  He remembered how she’d hum happily, dancing with his father who had been  _ there _ at the time.  They had been such a happy family of talent.  Until they weren’t.  

Not many people knew his last name, or that ‘Keith’ wasn’t his real name, in fact just short for his middle name.  He knew that if he- or Shiro because they could put two and two together- were to come out and claim their last name they had been gifted, he’d immediately be swarmed with more fans, more people reaching out to be friends or to try and do collabs.  On one hand, more fans meant more money and exposure, on the other hand it would also bring forth way more paparazzi other than the few that would try and snag pictures of him.  

So, thinking all of that, he was excited to perform with Shiro, but he was really hoping they wouldn’t call his name.  

“So be it then.  Now, I have your jackets in this box right here,” Kolivan said and the five boys stayed where they were, excited but knowing not to crowd him.  Again, before any skills were taught, you learned discipline.  He opened it, looking at them all before he nodded and stepped back.  In a second they were all at the box, digging through to find their jacket.  They were all similar to each other but they were tailored to each of them to fit well and had their initials on them.  Keith found his and stepped back, holding it up to examine.  

It was grey and black, the collar and shoulders were black, the collar lined with the schools bright purple that Keith had a feeling would glow under luminescent lights.  The front of the jacket was black half way down around the opening, a light grey outlined the black in a semi thick line and a dark grey the rest of the way and on the sides.  There were two holes on either side of the collar with a latch in them- that after a moment of frowning he realized was how they attached the hood if they wanted too, and bright blue stripes that went across his pecs in an arch, again making Keith feel like they’d glow bright under black light.  Closer to the end of the shoulder were little loops like a belt loop, which was where the ends of the hood would go, and on the right breast the school’s symbol logo sat, small but proud. The back was pitch black, his initials in sharp bold, the same purple, outlined thinly by the blue.  ‘R.K.K.’, in slightly smaller letters in just the blue, ‘2017 COTA FACE FOR DANCE’ and in the middle of the back was a badass looking dagger with the school’s symbol on it.  Erick and Donovan’s jackets were the same, but instead of a dagger they had a sword, something only seniors would get.  It might be considered inappropriate but the knife symbolized the name.  Students of Marmora’s Blade were called ‘blades’, that is, if you were in the public eye.

He pulled his usual red leather jacket off, folding it carefully and slipped it into his bag before he pulled on the jacket.  The sleeves ended in an arrow shape on the outside of his hand, coming to a stop maybe half an inch from his knuckles.  The material was soft and warm, but it wasn’t like he’d be drenched in sweat if he wore it out during the summer.  He was surprised at how comfortable it actually was seeing as it was meant to show off the schools, and their own, status among their peers.  

“This is awesome,” Oliver laughed and agreements came from all around.  Keith and Shiro both looked over, grinning to each other.  

“Dude, you look good,” Keith complimented and Shiro shook his head.  

“No bro,  _ you _ look like you could kick someone's ass right now,”

“Or take someone’s!”  Erick said and Keith snorted.  

“Alright, let’s get a few pictures for the paper and the website and then you can all get ready.  Make sure you don’t miss the plane.  You’re responsible for refunding the ticket if you do,” Kolivan said, waving towards the door.  It opened and a small framed girl walked in, holding a camera that she looked terrified to drop.  She was a freshman, baby faced and looked intimidated by the amount of guys in the room.  Keith had no pity. He had to go through  _ years _ of being around cute ass boys and not being able to do anything about it.  

~_~  

‘   **Sharpshooting-Blue** _ @lancealot:   _ When your teacher gives you control of the freshmen  [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbH-ipfLeVc ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbH-ipfLeVc) ‘  (Lance is the guy with red pants)

|

‘   **PrinceofanEmpire** _ @i’lLotorurmotor: _  This looks like it was really fun lol ‘ 

|

‘   **Nyahmaa** _ @stickyfingers: _  i still can’t believe she let you do this ‘  
  


“I’ll watch it later,” Keith said, waving his hand at Shiro’s phone, his thumb hovering over the link.  They were at Altea, both dressed and ready to go to wherever the hell they were going to tonight and both wearing their face jackets.  They were sitting on a bench that had been set, watching Allura move and pose for the camera.  The official pictures were done rather quickly seeing as they had shown up a bit late and missed half of it, but that didn’t mean they got to leave sooner.  

“I  _ must _ have a picture with you guys in your jackets!  You look so good that I have to brag!  Come on, boys come up!”  Allura said and with a sinking feeling Keith got up, knowing he didn’t have much of a choice.  He was infinitely glad he had taken care of his appearance, brushed his hair and pulled it into a neat, short ponytail, gelling down any stray hairs.  His bangs framed his face perfectly, and with a little bit of help from his make up basket he had been able to make his eyes stand out and his skin look flawless.  He silently thanked God for being surrounded with high such beauty expectations and extreme ways to ‘fix’ things that he learned how to look good.  Especially with adoptive parents like his.  At least he wasn’t wearing  _ as much _ eyeliner as Shiro.  Not that it looked bad though, his elder pulled it off.  

The first few poses Keith felt awkward as hell, but after some encouragement he got into it, laughing at jokes Shiro made and snorting as Coran went into dramatics.  

“Oooooh so sexyyyy take me now!”  He said, collapsing onto the ground. The three of them giggled while Alfor chuckled quietly at the red heads antics.  A few different poses were taken, and a lot of candids where one of them had their face scrunched up or where they were laughing.  Allura’s photographer promised to send them copies, and then the group were off to dinner, riding in Alfor’s limo.  Now, Keith had ridden in a limo a couple of times, more than a handful really whenever he was dragged to a premiere showing of one of Mary’s or Mori’s movies.  But he still couldn’t help but to feel important and admire how fancy everything was.  

The ride down to the strip was full of jokes and laughter, talking about each of their hopes for COTA and the concerns they might have about it.  There was a lot of snapchatting between Allura, Shiro and Keith, and then Coran who was determined to learn how to use it.  While Allura wasn’t a youtuber she’d show up in some of Keith and Shiro’s videos, but she was pretty much instagram famous.  She had over a million subscribers on multiple of her social media pages and got paid for advertisements on her pages or if she wore a certain logo.  Recently she had been talking about coming up with a line of foundation for people of color, saying that anything ‘not for white people’ never seemed to match anyone with colored skin.  Keith had been witness to how many foundations Allura had gotten mad at because the made her look grey, or a certain brand didn’t have her skin tone, watching her mix three different ones to find the perfect one.  

By the time they were in downtown vegas, the strip was alive with people and lights, street performers and pocket pickers, excited tourists and workers who were heading to work.  The group  walked up to where Alfo had made reservations, a long line of people sectioned off by ropes on the side of the building while Alfor and his group walked straight up to the doors, red carpet privilege.   _ Ah, the joys of being good friends with filthy rich people. _

They were seated quickly, appetizers being ordered as Alfor announced to not hold back on what they wanted because he was treating them.  

“So Keith, I heard you’re going to audition for excellence as a third year,” Alfor said and Keith nodded, looking at him as he spoke.  

“Yes Sir, Mrs Ginn the instructor approached me and told me I should try for it.  She said she wants to see if I’m as impressive as people make me out to be, but really I think she just want’s to say she taught the Kogane boys together, in the same class,” Keith said honestly and Alfor nodded, humming slightly.  

“Well, you have no lack of talent Keith.  I have faith that if you try for it you’ll get it.  Name sake or not.  Dancing comes as naturally to you as breathing.  If they don’t let you into that class then you come straight to me, Altea would love to have you in  _ our _ classes,” he paused and looked to Shiro, smiling, “that goes for both of you you know,” he said and Allura groaned.  

“Father  _ please _ , stop trying to recruit them.  I happen to know for a fact that Marmora is better suited for both of their personalities.  Besides, can you really imagine either of them in pastels?”  Allura asked, raising a brow.  Alfor let out a guilty chuckle, holding up his hands.  

“Alright, alright,” he looked at the boys again, “ I  _ am _ serious about it though.  You two know that is something ever happens you’ll have a place at Altea.  And that’s not just because you’re best friends with my daughter,” he said and Keith nodded awkwardly, not knowing what to do with the offer of kindness.  Shiro sent him a warm smile though.  

“We know, and we appreciate the offer.  But Allura’s right.  Until something happens to change it, Marmora is for us,” Shiro said.  Suddenly Keith looked back up, remembering when he did a collab with Shay a few weeks ago.  Her eyes had practically become stars when she found out that Keith and Shiro went to Marmora and Allura went to Altea.  

“Actually, I have a friend who’s interested in Altea.  She said she wants to apply to Marmora but I don’t think Marmora would really suit her,” Keith said, remembering his promise to vouch for her if he got the chance.  Allura perked up.  

“Are you talking about Shay?”  She asked and Keith nodded.  Allura gasped, grabbing her father's hand excitedly.  “Oh father she is so talented!  I’d almost forgot about it!  SHe is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met and her voice is so pretty,” Allura gushed and Coran leaned over.  

“Wait a minute, is she the one who did that collaboration with you two, Lotor and that other guy?”  He asked, looking at Keith and Shiro. 

“Yeah that’s her.  She’s a really talented singer, super nice.  We were talking about doing another video together, and Keith didn’t you have her come down to the studio to record stuff with her?”  Shiro said and Keith nodded.  

“Oh yeah, she knows how to work a sound booth and how to move her voice.  I told her if she applied at Marmora then I’d vouch for her, but I think Altea is way more her style,”  Keith said and Alfor scratched his chin, looking over at Coran who sent him a smile.  

“What did you think of her in the video?”  He asked and Coran thought for a moment.  

“Oh well, I thought the little las wouldn’t have much of a voice at first, but her voice was soft and sweet.  Plenty of raw talent that could be molded down.  Personally I think she’ll take the piss if she applies.  She looked skux in the video and the chaps seem to like her.  She must be pretty damn choice,” he said.  Keith and Shiro tilted their heads, wearing the same expression of confusion.  Honestly, Coran was fun to be around, and would sometimes start telling random stories about him in his youth or the mischief he and Alfor got up too as young hooligans, but sometimes...sometimes Keith had no fucking idea what he was saying.  

“Well, if you remind me later on tonight I’ll look into her and keep her in mind.  I can’t promise she’ll get in though.  She still has to meet Altean standards,” he said and the other nodded.  Allura released his hand.  

“That’s fair I guess,” she said, everyone looking up as the appetizers arrived.  Keith’s stomach growled.   _ Bless people with money and wanting to buy expensive food _ .  

~_~

Keith flopped into the bed, his face clean but his hair still gelled.  He’d take a shower in the morning, not wanting to wait for Shiro or Allura to get done in the bathrooms.  He had changed into fluffy pj pants that Allura had gotten him for christmas, shirtless and shoeless and ready for bed.  He plugged his phone in, rolling under the comforter.  It was 3 o’clock in the fucking morning.  You may not realize it upon looking at them, but Alfor and Coran liked ot fucking party.  Dinner had turned into going to a show, and then when drunk Cora demanded they go to a casino at ten at night, it just went to hell from there.  Within seconds the college students had lost the adults ™.  At first it was cool, whatever.  After an hour though they realized that they could not  _ find _ the adult™ and agreed to split up to cover more ground.  Of course that’s when both Allura and Shiro’s phones died.  Keith had been the one to find Coran and Alfor at the craps table, which Coran was apparently  _ really _ good at.  When Keith had tried to drag them away to find the others Coran ended up talking him into getting him another drink at the bar.   _ Somehow  _ that ended up a girl doing body shots off of Keith because Coran had decided to join him, pockets full of his chips and  _ “Keeith!  Keiithy my boy!  It is her birthday!  Crawl up there!  Come on let her do a body shot, it’ll do you some good!” _  By the time Keith finally managed to get away, Coran in tow Alfor was missing.  

Basically, it was three hours of running around trying to corral everyone in without losing the people you’d already found.  

“ _ Never again _ ,” he grumbled to himself before closing his eyes, letting sleep take him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a bit late (it's 4:20 ayyyye) I had company over and had to kick ass in cards against humanity. I kind of wanted to get a little bit into how Keith and Shiro's relationship is, bc Keith loves Shiro to death but feels like he'll always be in his brothers shadow. Also wanted to throw in some stuff about the adoptive parents and hints about Keith's mother :0 
> 
> Also I highkey ship Alfor and Coran and you can't convince me that Coran was not in love with Alfor and doesn't think that Allura and the paladins are the kids he never had. You can not.
> 
> Anyway! The next chapter will be in Lance's pov and we'll get to see his brother and Matt show up! Also the kick off of COTA FINALLY. Who's excited for our gay boi's to realize they're at the same thing??


	7. Anything for my brother/parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Switching pov's, Matt and Alejandro arrive on the scene and Alejandro flirts with an Asian cutey ;)

Lance stood with Pidge and Hunk at the front of the campus, a few people who were participating in Clash of the Arts were littered here and there, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Juilliard students. Juilliard was going to be the first to arrive, it being Friday. Then Marmora and Altea would arrive together tomorrow. The event started Monday which would give everyone a day to get sleep and fend off jet lag if they had it.

“Lance, pidge say hi to youtube,” Hunk said, moving the camera to them. Lance looked up from his phone, smiling widely.

“Hey youtube! Make sure you subscribe to Hunk!” Lance called, waving while Pidge just side eyed the camera, like a dog ready to bite.

“Hello earthlings,” Pidge grumbled after a moment. Hunk snorted and pointed the camera back to himself.

“We’re at the campus, Lance just got out of dance clothes which is why he’s half naked,” Hunk said and Lance scoffed, in some sweatpants and a burn out tank top that showed off his arms and and his side.

“I’m not half naked! I’m providing fan service!” He claimed, jumping into the camera frame as he brought his arms up to pose, flexing them. Hunk tried to keep a smile down, his voice monotone.

“I’m swooning,” he said and Lance laughed.

“Hance for life,” he said and Hunk cracked, letting out a laugh.

“Totally. Hance for life,” Hunk agreed. Lance peeled off of him then, looking around for any sign of the busses that Juilliard was arriving on.

“Matt just texted and said they’re about to pull up,” Pidge said, clear excitement in their voice. Lance felt his own excitement rise in him. He was excited to spend the two weeks with his brother, and while it was unlikely that it would happen he wanted to get paired up with his brother. They could easily wow everyone, even the people from Marmora and Altea together. He was close to all of his family, his many siblings and cousins, his aunts, uncles and parents. But he was easily the closest to his brother Alejandro. They were twins anyway. They had done everything together, perfectly in synch with each other. It had destroyed Lance when his brother failed senior year and had to retake it due to time spent in the hospital from his surgeries. Lance had declared that he wouldn't go off to college until Alejandro passed, but after his twin had pointed out that they’d go to different colleges for different majors anyway and declared he wouldn’t talk to Lance if he didn’t go to the Garrison, Lance had caved. They looked very similar, with the exception of a few aspects. Lance’s voice was a bit deeper, his hair a tiny bit darker. Alejandro had bright green eyes instead of dark blue, and he had a small mole on the right side of his jaw, his features being just a tad bit softer but hardly noticeable. Other than that they looked identical.

Lance physically squirmed when he saw a charter bus turn the corner and head towards the loading zone of the campus, Juilliard's symbol and name on it, followed by three other busses. He grabbed Hunks arm tightly, causing the bigger man to look at him.

“Hunk he’s here,” he barely kept from squealing, suddenly filled with enormous amounts of energy that he was struggling to contain. Pidge was doing worse than he was though, seeing as they had grabbed onto the edge of his shirt while bouncing.

“Which one is he on which one is he on holy shit they’re here!” They said and Lance wiggled again, watching as the second bus came to a stop in front of them. The doors didn’t open for a few minutes as people gathered trash or anything they had with them. It was then that Lance noticed the couple of vans that had pulled up as well. Lance huffed impatiently. Juilliard was supposed to be staying on campus with them, rooming with the people who had volunteered to share their rooms or any dorms that weren’t filled would be occupied. Apparently Marmora and Altea took up two full floors at a close by hotel.

Finally the doors to the buses opened and college students flooded out, all of them talking among themselves and taking in the campus. A brief sense of embarrassment washed over Lance, knowing that the campus was much lower quality than they were most likely used too. He couldn’t imagine how people at Marmora and Altea would react to it. He fished his phone out, texting rapidly to his brother, Pidge doing the same while Hunk turned the camera, talking for his vlog.

“Matt said he’s out of the bus but he can’t find us,” Pidge said, looking up and around. Lance did the same before he narrowed his eyes at Pidge.

“Tell him to look for you,” Lance said and Pidge frowned, watching Lance tap rapidly before sending a message.

“What?” Pidge asked and Lance slid his phone into his pocket, bending on one knee.

“Come on, get on my shoulders so they can find us,” Lance said. Pidge hesitated for half of a second before they clambered up.

“Uh...guys please don’t. Like, not to doubt you Lance but if you drop them or you fall you can both get hurt and I’m not sure I can be responsible for this. Your mother would kill me if you broke something,” Hunk said nervously. Lance let out a laugh, grabbing onto Pidge’s legs to steady them.

“Calm down Hunk, I won’t drop Pidge,” Lance said.

“Better not,” Pidge mumbled, holding onto Lance’s head as he took a deep breath, pushing himself up. Pidge let out a small yelp, holding onto Lance’s hair tightly, crouched over slightly.

“I hate how tall you are,” they grumbled, bent over in fear. Lance’s eye twitched in pain as the top of his head was yanked on.

“Aye, retract the claws please. I won’t drop you, just look for Matt and Alejandro,” Lance whined. You wouldn’t be able to tell, but Pidge’s fingers were incredibly strong from typing away all the time. Their grip was agonizing.

“I don’t even know what Alejandro looks like,” Pidge hissed and Lance furrowed his brows, looking up at Pidge.

“Mate, he’s my twin,” Lance dead panned and Pidge took on a sheepish look.

“Oh...oh yeah...forgot about that,” they said before slowly straightening out, looking side to side, much like a meerkat.

“Okay uh...I don’t see them….oh! Oh wait I see- oh no, that’s not them,” Pidge said and Lance whined, looking around as well. He bit his lip, knowing people were staring before his eyes landed on Hunk who was putting the camera down for now.

“Hunk! Can you call their names?” Lance asked and Hunk furrowed his brow.

“Why can’t you?” He asked, suddenly shy as he poked his fingers together. Lance and Pidge gave him the same expression and he waved his hands. “I’m just saying! Lance can scream pretty loud too i just-” Hunk tried but when both of his roommates continued to stare him down he sighed. The thing about Hunk was that he was a big guy. He had played the tuba from sixth grade through senior year of highschool, so his lungs were absolutely huge. But he didn't like to use his lungs for screaming, mostly blowing on hot food or filling up balloons. He said it “scared people” which Lance thought was stupid because it was incredible. Freakish and startling, but incredible.

Hunk took in a deep breath, cupping his hands to his mouth while Pidge and Lance quickly covered their ears.

“MAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT HOOOOOLLLTTTT! ALLLLLLLEEEEJAAAANNNNDROOOOO MCCLAAAAAIIIIINNNN!” He screamed, causing the people near them to jump, a few girls yelping in fright as they turned to stare at the three. Pidge waved their arms around, Lance doing the same with one hand, holding Pidge’s leg with the other.

“LANCE!”

“PIIIIIIDGGE!”

Lance nearly died as Pidge tried to scramble off of him, ending in him practically tossing them into Hunk as he set sights on his brother. Matt and Alejandro were side by side, apparently able to find each other before finding their siblings. Lance didn’t care though, his brother was wearing blue sweats, much like Lance was wearing, and a grey hoodie. A few seconds later he was also wearing Lance, seeing as he had sprinted the few yards between them and tackled his brother, both of them stumbling a little bit.

Lance embraced him tightly, feeling filled with joy when his brother hugged him back just as tight. It had been too long, even if they had seen each other on New Years, still to long. They pulled away after a moment, Lance’s hand on Alejandro’s shoulder, a huge smile on his face, Alejandro returning it.

“It’s good to see you Alexo,” Lance said and Alejandro let out a happy sigh.

“It’s good to see you too Lance,” he said before they pulled away. Alexo caught sight of Hunk and grinned again.

“Hunk! My man!” He said excitedly, running to give Hunk a hug as well. Hunk laughed, hugging him back warmly. Lance felt warmth inside of him as he looked at his brother. He’d do anything for him, easily take a bullet for him or take his pain from him if given the opportunity. He loved his brother with all of his heart, he’d gone through hell for him, and you could bet that he’d do it again if he needed too.

~_~

Lance laughed as his brother picked up the concealer, giving the camera an unsure look as he turned to Lance, who if you asked him, had a very...interesting face of make up on.

“This...is the highlighter...right?” He asked and Lance barely choked back another laugh.

“You tell me hermanito,” Lance said and Alexo let out a whine.

“Esto no es justo, I don’t know anything about makeup,” he complained and Lance leaned forward, looking into the mirror he had set down on the counter.

“Yeah I think we all picked up on that when you used black eyeshadow to try and contour,” Lance said. Alexo pouted, sending puppy dog eyes at the camera.

“You guys shouldn’t love him, he’s a huge jerk,” he said and Lance scoffed, fake offended.

Laughter and jokes rose from them for another twenty minutes or so until Alexo pulled away, claiming he was done. Lance almost had a stroke when he looked at himself. He looked like a white washed dirty racoon. There was some heavy black eyeshadow and eyeliner around his eyes, badly blended in concealer everywhere, dark streaks that were half blended in on different parts of his cheekbones, his pores looking huge and bright, plastic bitch pink on his mouth, his lips overdrawn and looking like he had just been throat fucked.

“Hohmygohd,” Lance breathed and Alexo hid his laugh, glancing at the camera then back at Lance.

“Do you like it? Because I totally think you should wear this on Monday at the beginning of COTA,” Alexo said and Lance snorted, looking up at him.

“Yeah, I’m gonna start that out by looking like a low level prostitute who just had her throat rammed,” Lance said sarcastically and Alexo shrugged.

“You’ll look like normal then,” he said and Lance let his jaw drop, slowly looking from the camera to him in betrayal.

“I’m gonna pop the air mattress while you’re sleeping,” he muttered and Alexo let out a laugh and despite himself Lance couldn’t help but to let out a small smile, his brothers laughter was the greatest.

~_~

“So, are you guys excited for COTA?” Matt asked, on the loveseat with Pidge against him, Hunk squashed on the other cushion. Lance and Alexo were both sprawled out on the other couch, Lance looking at himself in the mirror, rubbing at some of the stubborn eyeliner that wouldn’t come off no matter what he did.

“I’m pumped, I’ve heard so much about it from the upperclassmen. I heard that a lot of agents and scouts find people during it,” Alexo said excitedly and Matt laughed.

“It’s also the best time to secure a transfer to one of the other schools. You’re around the other school’s instructors and if you can impress them and express interest in their school you may get asked to transfer,” Matt said and Lance looked over.

“I heard about that, isn’t there supposed to be a ton of news crews and stuff to cover the event?” Lance asked and Matt nodded.

“Oh yeah, there’s probably going to be a lot more than usual this time though considering,” Matt said and Hunk tilted his head.

“Considering what?” He asked and Matt looked over at him.

“Considering that there’s a rumor of the Kogane boys are both going to br in the dance department this year. Last year they were in different ones so it wasn’t as big of a deal, but now that they’re together everyone is losing their mind,” Matt said and Alexo bolted upright.

“What? You mean the Kogane boys? Like the Kogane kids? Like, brand name Kogane?” Alexo said and Matt narrowed his eyes slightly before nodding.

“Yeah, them,” He said. Lance felt like he couldn’t breathe. Everyone knew the name Kogane. The epitome of artistic skills. Whether it be in performing arts or visual. Many of them were skilled in both, knowing different languages to land them roles all around the world. Right now there were about fifteen Koganes, seven ‘kids’. Two boys from The oldest Kogane son who were in college, three girls from the second eldest and two girls from the youngest. If Lance could remember correctly the two boys were the oldest, the others in highschool or middle school.

No one knew for sure what the kids looked like, as the family didn’t like showing pictures until they were older. There were a few glimpses here and there that media snagged of them as little kids but it was hard to find them. Apparently though they were attractive as hell. Must be a Kogane trait. The point was, ‘Kogane’ was a huge name and rightfully so. For hundreds of years the name had been at the top of the celebrity list across the sea, and in the last fifty years or so the name had risen in the US as well.

“Uh...who are the Koganes?” Hunk asked and Lance gasped, snapping out of himself and looking at Hunk.

“What?! Hunk. How do you not know who they are?” He asked and Hunk splayed his hands, shrugging. Lance took a deep breath.

“Hunk, the Koganes are like the Albert Einstein of anything art related. Think genius level like Bill Nye and rocket scientists. They are the best. They’re like what Gordon Ramsay is as a chef, but to art,” Lance said and Hunk whistled lowly.

“Dang,” he said and Alexo leaned forward a bit, looking at Matt.

“So wait, do you know if it’s more than just a rumor? Are they going to be there? Both of them dancing?” Alexo asked and Matt licked his lips, looking around like he had a secret. Pidge had a small smirk on their lips, like they knew something as well.

“Well...I may or may not know a few things about them…” Matt trailed off and Lance and Alexo moved in unison, both moving closer but halting when Pidge sat up a bit more.

“Nope! Nuh uh! Matt is sworn to secrecy!” Pidge said quickly and Lance narrowed his eyes at his roommate.

“Oh, but are you little pigeon?” He asked and Pidge sneered at him.

“Call me that again and I’ll bite your finger off,” they turned to Hunk, “hey, isn’t it time to go? Our reservations are for seven and it’s six thirty now,” they said and Hunk checked the time to make sure before he nodded.

“Oh yup, Pidge is right guys. If we want to make it to the restaurant we should get going,” Hunk said, standing up. Alexo and Lance both let out a groan in unison but scrambled up anyway. If he couldn’t get information, then he’d at least stuff his face full of food.

//pov switch//

**(Text written in bold is being spoken in japanese)**

  
Keith swatted at Kim as she giggled, high off of tiredness and caffeine.

 **“Oh my god Kith come on you have to get some,”** She tried again and Keith made a face at the monster energy drink in the convenient stores fridge thing.

 **“I don’t like how they taste,** ” he said and she pouted. They had arrived in Hilton head a few hours ago and been shown their rooms. It was supposed to be four to a room but the ‘faces’ of each department had suites where they all stayed. So there were nine other people Keith was living with for the next two weeks. He didn’t really mind, he knew most of them and liked them well enough, he just worried about any quiet time he might have had going out the window. Kim and Keith had been selected by the group to go get snacks and drinks seeing as they were both the youngest and Keith decided he hated South Carolina within five minutes of the ten minute walk to the store. There were more bugs in five feet than there were people in a five hundred mile radius.

 **“Oh boo, well what else is on the list?”** She asked, looking down at it. Keith currently held four bags of family size chips, all different flavors, four monsters and five starbucks drinks, with some candy bars and bags balanced on top while Kim held a huge slushie with caffeine in it. He leaned forward just a bit, puckering his lips slightly and she pushed it closer, letting his lips close around the straw. He took a huge gulp, looking up to make eye contact with Kim. It was a terrible idea, seeing as she made the ugliest face possible and Keith snorted, choking on the slushie while struggling not to drop everything, trying not to laugh so he didn't spit everywhere. He stood back up straight, trying to regain his composure as Kim cackled.

 **“Shut up it wasn’t that funny,** ” Keith grumbled and Kim just giggled more, covering her mouth with her hand. Keith scowled. “Go get the bags of beef jerky, we need like six,” Keith hissed but there was no heat behind it. She gave him an amused smile before she went to go find the jerky.

“Uh, we’re in America. Speak english,” a voice suddenly said and Keith felt the familiar feeling of rage and intolerance run through him at a racists words. He spun around, ready to hand this person’s ass to him in five different languages but he stopped short, meeting bright green eyes, brown hair and beautiful caramel skin, a confident smirk on lips that blended in with his skin, with the slightest tint of pink. His brain short circuited as he looked at the man in front of him, one thing repeating in his head like a mantra. Lance Lance Lance Lance Lance. The guy seemed to waver in Keith’s silence as he stared, open mouthed and wide eyed at him. He waved his hands quickly. “Hey, I was just joking, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I hear that all the time and I figured you might too so I just thought it would be a good ice breaker and-wait. Can you understand me? Like, do you speak english and talking in another language because you were talking shit about someone or because you-” Keith finally was able to shut his mouth, the voice was what keyed him in and brought him down to reality. This wasn’t Lance. No, he had green eyes instead of the deep ocean blue, his hair was the wrong shade, and he had a mole on his jaw that Lance didn’t have. He was just some...freak of nature that looked almost exactly like him, talked like him and even had the same stupid smirk. What the fuck?

“You talk a lot,” Keith cut him off and the Lance look a like froze mid-sentence, looking like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before he grinned again.

“Oh okay good, you can understand me, that’ll make this easier,” he said and Keith frowned, his head spinning.

“Make what eas-” he stopped as the boy reached up, placing his forearm against the door of the fridge that had the energy drinks in it, the other hand going to his hip, his ankles crossing, one foot supporting him. Keith wouldn’t admit it, but it was hot.

“The name’s Alejandro, but you, gatito, can call me Alexo, or Lex, or whatever you want to,” He cooed and Keith rabidly dug through his brain trying to figure out what the fuck this guy had just called him, but mentally cursed when his brain decided to momentarily forget half of the languages he was fluent in. Keith shook his head to clear his thoughts, taking a breath.

“That’s nice uh...Alejandro. Is there something that I can help you with?” Keith asked and Alejandro licked his lips. The action had an eerie similarity to the way Lance would wet his lips when he was thinking or about to say something someone somewhere might not like. So what? He had watched Lance’s videos enough to know the habits that stuck out more. The ones where he’d do special effects on himself and others were cool.

“Well, I’ll be in town for the next two weeks, maybe you and I could get dinner one night,” Alejandro suggested and Keith rose his brows, vaguely registering that he was being asked out, but there was something else that caught his attention.

“Oh yeah? You’re here for COTA aren’t you?” Keith asked and Alejandro’s face turned from confidence to surprise, his arm slipping slightly.

“What? How did you know?” He asked and Keith looked him up and down before meeting his gaze.

“I’m guessing you’re a first year. Should be in second but I’d put money on you getting held back in grade school. You have false confidence in yourself that you use to charm people, but your body screams that you’re a dancer. That and if you’re only in town for two weeks during COTA? Now...you don’t have the vibe that Altean’s or Blades give off...so what. From Juilliard?” Keith asked and Alejandro blinked in surprise a few times before he straightened out, tossing Keith a shit eating grin.

“Alright, you’ve caught me. I’m here with Juilliard for dance, staying with my brother and his roommates. He goes to the Garrison,” Alejandro said and when Keith said nothing he continued. “What about you? Are you here for COTA?” He asked and Keith bit his bottom lip for a moment before slowly nodding.

“Yeah, I’m here for COTA. Doing dance this year,” Keith said and Alejandro nodded eagerly.

“Oh yeah? What year are you in? What school are you from?” He asked and Keith looked around for Kim, not seeing her in a quick glance Keith looked back to the taller boy.

“I’m a second year, here with Marmora. My friend and I were sent out to get stuff for the suite because we’re the youngest of the faces so-” Keith started but Alejandro nearly pounced on him, causing him to take a step back.

“You’re from Marmora? And a face?” He asked and Keith looked side to side awkwardly. God he hated talking to strangers. Especially ones who was illegally similar to Lance.

“Uh...yeah?” It came out as a question, Keith wondering if he’d be killed in this store.

“Holy...do you know the Kogane boys? Like, are they here? I heard a rumor that they’d both be in dance this year and that they’d finally come out to the media,” Alejandro said excitedly and Keith looked at him sharply.

“Who told you that?” He asked and Alejandro leaned back a bit at the tone, shrugging slightly.

“Uh...I just heard it around, ya know? Through the grapevine,” he said and Keith seethed. He had talked to Shiro and the others about not wanting to mention his last name. He wasn’t sure that he was ready for that. He already had to be careful of fake people looking for five minutes of fame from his youtube career, but coming out to the entire world, exposing his face and himself as a Kogane would be life changing. He constantly be ducking the media and dealing with gossip, and any achievement or thing he did would be dismissed because clearly that was just him being a Kogane, and he didn’t have to work for anything. He wanted to be respected and admired for his talents and skills, really, he did. But he wanted to have that before knew his last name. He was a dancer because of his mother, his adoptive name did nothing but put instructors to his talent to help it grow.

“Yes, I do know the Kogane boys. I know them pretty well, and I also know that right now they aren’t sure about exposing themselves to the media right now since they’re both still in college. If one of them steps out into the light the other will have too, so they have to make the decision together. As soon as they expose their faces to the camera then their life changes, and they might not be ready for that,” Keith said, struggling to keep the anger from his voice. Alejandro looked thoughtful, staring at him quizzically for a moment before nodding.

“I can understand that,” he shrugged, “hell, it would be a huge step. If I was them I’d be scared too, wouldn’t want to shame my family,” he said, watching Keith closely for a reaction. Keith smirked. This guy may look like Lance, but he couldn’t bait nearly as well.

“They’ve got a lot to live up too, I’m sure that’s the reason,” Keith said and suddenly a small body was next to him.

 **“Hey, I found the jerky that was on the list, also I’ll kick this guys ass for you if you want me too,”** Kim said and Keith fought down his amusement, looking at Kim.

 **“No I’m fine. Let’s just go,”** he said and she nodded, taking a few of the candy bars from Keith so they wouldn’t fall. Keith looked at Alejandro.

“Anyway, it was nice to meet you, but I should get going. Uh, see you around?” Keith said and Alejandro snapped out of his shock, nodding.

“Uh...yeah! Bye?” he said, waving awkwardly, not knowing if they had used japanese to talk about him or if it was because the girl didn’t know english. Kim gave him a fake smile that would real to anyone who didn’t know her, pulling Keith towards the cash register.

 **“I would have stepped in earlier but he was cute, until he started gushing about the name thing,”** Kim said and Keith grunted in agreement, wanting to get back to the suite, fight Shiro for the blankets since they had to share a bed-a queen, thankfully-and go to bed.

 **“Thanks Kim. I owe you one,”** Keith said, watching the cashier scan the items with a dead look in her eye.

 **“Nah, just come and recuse me or let me hang all over you when a freshman tries to get handsy,”** Kim said and Keith snorted, shaking his head.

 **“Whatever,** ” was his reply.

~_~

**_(Words spoken in bold italics are being spoken in Chinese)_ **

_**“I don’t want my life to change just yet. I’m not ashamed of the name you’ve given me, but I want my achievements to be mine. I want them to think that I’m skilled enough to make it without the name, before they chalk it up to my blood that they think is shared between us!”**_ Keith exclaimed and Mary and Mori had the same looks on their faces, frustration and concern mixed together.

 ** _“This is nonsense. Every Kogane, even when not raised as one and married into the family, is gifted with more talent than a human should posses. The ancient gods of long ago blessed our ancestors-”_** Mori started but Keith sighed.

 ** _“Our ancestors so that anyone married, birthed, or taken into the Kogane household would be given the gift to create art in many different ways, different branches of beautiful things as art has no one shape or size, yes. I know. And you all know that I work incredibly hard to be where I am and that I train tirelessly to be better. But they don’t. They’ll think everything was handed to me on a golden platter!”_** Keith explained. Mary frowned, leaning forward a bit.

 ** _“Shirogane? What do you think of this? Are you afraid like your brother?”_** She asked and Keith had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. If growing up with asian parents taught him anything, he knew that if he let them see his attitude Mary would find a way to reach through the computer and slap the shit out of him. Shiro shifted a little so he was more in the camera’s view.

 ** _“Mother, I do not think Keith is scared. I think his reasons are valid. We’re still in college, and the media and paparazzi are a lot ruder here than at home. We would have to seriously adjust our lives. That’s one of the reasons we started on Youtube, because he...we both wanted to know if we would be liked, if we would be seen for our talent without the name. The second we claim our name we’ll have to doubt everyone we meet,”_** Shiro said and Keith bit at his lip, glad Shiro was on his side. It wasn’t that Mori and Mary played favorites, but Shiro was the older son, which meant they’d be more likely to listen to and praise him. Mary looked like she was about to say something but Mori suddenly shook his head, a stone set, firm ‘listen the fuck up’ visage crossing his face.

 ** _“Takeshi, Riku. I’ve listened to what you have to say and I understand your concerns. However, Kogane's protect children from our name. You two are no longer children. You are twenty, about to be twenty one, and twenty two. I will not force you to perform at COTA as Koganes. But over spring break you WILL join us in Paris for the premiere of your mother’s most recent movie. I encourage you to come out now so you have time to get used to the attention,”_** Mori said and Keith felt his heart drop, torn on what to do.

 **“But that’s not-”** Keith started but Mori held up a hand.

 _ **“This is final. We will talk to you in a few days,”**_ Mori said and Keith shut his mouth, clenching his fists off screen.

 ** _“Whether you claim your names or not, you’re both representing Marmora. Go to a spa or something tomorrow and have your faces cleaned. You both have dark circles,”_** Mary said and Shiro took a breath.

 _ **“We understand. We’ll talk to you guys soon,”**_ Shiro said and they nodded, waving goodbye before disconnecting. Shiro closed the laptop and looked at Keith.

“Keith? What do you want to do?” Shiro asked and Keith swallowed hard, putting his head in his hands. He was so frustrated, so annoyed. He had never asked to be a Kogane. He hated this. He wanted to wait until he was out of college, where he had an actual handle on his life and wasn’t in the US. But no, now he was going to be forced into the public eye whether he liked it or not. Being on youtube was one thing. He could control what was sent out and what was seen for the most part. This would mess up everything.

“It’s not just my decision Shiro,” Keith mumbled and Shiro put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re brothers Keith. I’m on your side, you know that. I agreed with you on the whole waiting till we were out thing. But now it looks like we’re not going to get what we want, so we have a choice to make. You’ll be here longer than I am, so we’ll do what you feel most comfortable with,” Shiro said and Keith took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. He looked up, meeting Shiro’s eyes.

“Can I have some time? I’ll make my decision tomorrow...but you need to tell me what you want too okay? I know you’re trying to look out for me but this affects us both. We go together or we don’t go down at all,” Keith said and Shiro gave him a slight smile as he said that. They had been saying that since they met, learning it in every language they knew. It was one of the first phrases they would learn when presented with a new language, refusing everything until they had the pronunciation down to a ‘t’.

“I will, we go together or we don’t rise at all,” Shiro replied, giving Keith a quick hug before getting up, knowing Keith would need some time alone. Keith took in a deep breath as the door closed, knowing he probably had about an hour or so until the rest of the guys came in to go to bed. There was two queen mattresses and a smaller, cushioned area near the window that was comfortable enough for one of them to squeeze onto and use for a bed. Originally they had tried to stick Keith there since he was the shortest, but after Keith had announced that Shiro sleep punched and kicked, Oliver had decided he’d take the window bed. Keith knew somehow that the girls had it better, faintly remembering that they brought a small air mattress but oh well.

He scooted back on the bed, putting the laptop down and plugging it into charge before he shuffled underneath the thick comforter, curling up on his side, his mind racing. Excitement for COTA had all but left him completely, instead replaced with stomach churning anxiety and dread. What the fuck am I going to do?

//pov change//

 **@heteroDON’t:** hey...can I ask you something?

Lance looked down at his phone, raising a brow. He was currently cuddled up against Hunk on the couch, Alexo sprawled over both Hunk and Lance’s lap. They were watching Star wars, one of the prequels. Normally, he'd ignore the notification and answer later, but being private messaged by Keith was unusual in itself, let alone something like that.

He opened his phone, tapping the notification.

 **@lancealot:** yeah what's up?

 **@heteroDON’t:** idk I just….idk I'm just really freaking out right now I guess and I don't want to bother Shiro and I can't talk to anyone else and I'm sorry

 **@heteroDON’t:** I shouldn't have messaged you i'm probably bothering you

Lance frowned slightly in confusion. What?

 **@lancealot:** uh...okay? Like I won't push you if you don't want my help but you came to me of all people

 **@lancealot:** so whatever it is you clearly need to talk about it, and I'm open to listen if you need me too  
  
**@lancealot:** I told you before that what we say on private chat will stay private unless you say you want it otherwise. So if you want to talk or vent then I'm all ears

 **@lancealot:** and if not, then I hope you figure it out

 

There was no answer for a few minutes and he put his phone down, trying to push it from his mind. It was strange though, Keith reaching out for help only to withdraw it as fast as possible. He seemed really freaked out, and it frustrated Lance that he found himself actually worried about him.

I don't CARE if he's alright. The guy is an asshole. A stupid asshat that has a perfect life and doesn't worry about anything. Well, good enough to where he doesn't have to treat his fans right and has access to state of the art studios. Who does he think he is? Messaging me as if I don't have a life and then deciding I'm not good enough for him to talk to. Well EXCUSE me your highness-

Lance’s thoughts were interrupted by his phone going off rapidly which earned a glance from Hunk and Alexo. He picked his phone back up quickly, opening it to twitter where Keith had just...let loose.

 **@heteroDON’t:** I can't tell you everything but the basics of it is that my parents are making me do something

 **@heteroDON’t:** That I don't want to do until I'm out of college bc once I do it it will completely change how I live and how people view me and my life won't ever be the same as it is now

@heteroDON’t: And they said I can either do it in a few days at an event or on spring break which is roughly a month or so away

 **@heteroDON’t:** And i have no choice and it's not like I can actually tell them ‘no I won't do that’ bc my parents are Asian and it doesn't matter how old you are you don't tell them no

 **@heteroDON’t:** Kind of like that stereotype with Latina mothers and the flip flop thing except with asians it would be a damn sword or something

 **@heteroDON’t:** And it's a huge deal and if I refused or waited till I was ready I'd be dishonoring the family name and them and I'd bring shame onto myself and others and come across as a coward

 **@heteroDON’t:** And there's a good chance I'd be disowned but the thing is it doesn't just affect me it also affects Shiro bc he has to do it too so it's not just up to me

 **@heteroDON’t:** And I'm trying not to hyperventilate bc literally it will change so much and some of it will be good but I'll never be respected for what I can do bc everyone will assume that anything I do is a result of the thing.

 **@heteroDON’t:** And I know Shiro will do whatever I want to do but that's not fair to him bc he deserves a say bc it affects both of us and idk what to do bc I'm not ready to have everyone change and look at me differently

 **@heteroDON’t:** I'm not ready to question literally every new person I meet even more so than I already do and I guess I messaged you bc you're an outside party and if anyone will be brutally honest to me it'll be you

 **@heteroDON’t:** I'm just so conflicted and mad bc I have no choice in this matter and if I talk to Shiro about it i’ll just be burdening him more.

Lance blinked once, twice, three times in surprise. He wasn't...he was not expecting that. At all. He read everything over a couple of times, his brow furrowed in concentration before he typed out his reply.

 **@lancealot:** that...sounds stressful

 **@heteroDON’t:** this is hopeless I shouldn't have messaged you

@lancealot: wait

 **@lancealot:** I think it's really shitty of your parent to force you- and Shiro into doing something that will change your lives without you being ready

 **@lancealot:** they should respect you wanting to finish college before this life altering-thing happens bc it's your life, not theirs

 **@lancealot:** and I think you should try to talk to them again, maybe you and Shiro both try and reason with them and explain how you feel or your side to it.

 **@heteroDON’t:** we tried, they gave us the option of doing it Monday or over Springbreak. Then we were told to go to a spa before we do anything public bc we have dark circles under our eyes

 **@heteroDON’t:** as if dark circles isn't what every college student is wearing these days, like get with it. It's the ‘thing’ now

Lance let out a small laugh through his nose, licking his lips.

 **@lancealot:** well, if you're really uncomfortable and not ready to do whatever it is you're being pressured into, you CAN say no. Like, you're an adult and you should have a say in your life

 **@lancealot:** and they'll get over it and realize that they can't control you anymore. If you live your life trying to please others you'll never be happy yourself.

 **@heteroDON’t:** you don't understand. They would never let it go, and if I straight up refused that would also hurt Shiro, bc then that would put him in a situation of “people who raised you or your brat brother”

 **@heteroDON’t:** and I don't want to do that. He wouldn't go against them like that, and it would be so disrespectful of me to shove it in their face like that

 **@lancealot:** ok 1st, Keith, if I've learned anything from watching Shiro’s videos and the collabs you guys have done over the past three years or so, I know that Shiro really fuckin loves you

 **@lancealot:** like I don't think I've ever seen him get into arguments with people unless he's defending you or something. I don't think he sees you as a brat anymore than what's healthy for being siblings

 **@lancealot:** 2nd it's disrespectful of your parents to force you into something that you're clearly not ready for.

 **@heteroDON’t:** I just don't know what I should do. The parents want us to do it Monday so we can adjust to it by spring break but Idk

 **@lancealot:** can I suggest something?

 **@heteroDON’t:** yeah but it doesn't mean I'll listen to it

 **@lancealot** : figured

 **@lancealot:** I think you should wait till spring break, maybe tell a few people you trust and are close too so that they don't find out by an outside source. Get rid of anyone who treats you differently

 **@lancealot:** then when you tell everyone you'll have some support systems you can turn too if things get overwhelming

 **@heteroDON’t:** that...is actually really good advice

 **@heteroDON’t:** thanks Lance, for listening and stuff

 **@lancealot** : it's not a problem, and I'm not saying you have to tell me what the big secret is, but I just wanna say no matter what you do or who you are….

 **@lancealot** : I will always hate on your mullet ;p.

 **@heteroDON’t:** PFFT.

 **@heteroDON’t** : I'll hold you to that Princess, thanks again for talking to me, it I'm super tired from traveling so I'm gonna go to bed gotta get up and go sightseeing or some shit

Lance's face lit up like a tomato, sputtering slightly. Princess? Where did THAT come from? Did he mean it as an insult or as a term of endearment? Lance wasn't...he wasn't a princess! He was so caught up on that that he missed almost everything else in the message.

 **@lancealot** : I am NOT a PRINCESS! Just go to bed McMullet

 **@heteroDON’t:** at least I'm not a McMeme

 **@lancealot:** v: <

 **@heteroDON’t** : night

 **@lancealot** : whatever

Lance put his phone down when it was clear Keith had actually gone to bed, looking up to see the movie paused and both Hunk and Alexo staring at him. He looked side to side, curling up a bit as he looked back at them.

“Uh...what?” He asked and Alexo had a knowing smirk on his face.

“Who are you talking too?” He asked and Lance shrugged, sliding his phone into his pocket.

“No one, why?” He asked as casually as he could. Alexo knew about his rivalry with Keith and would often text him or call him when he saw a funny thread on twitter, he even watched his art videos rather religiously. But he didn't watch the others, saying he had to support his twin brother in the war. But if Alexo found out Lance had stopped watching a movie, a Star Wars movie nonetheless, to talk to Keith he'd never hear the end of it. Hunk may be a bit more forgiving. But his twin would haunt him with it.

“Dude, you looked really frustrated but then would chuckle or something. It was super distracting, plus you guys were typing super fast,” Hunk said and Lance curled in on himself more, as if that would stop them from finding out the truth.

“I didn't mean to distract you guys, just uh...someone was having a small crisis and needed help,” Lance said, hoping they wouldn't pry. Hunk seemed to get the message, nodding slightly.

“I hope they figure it out,” he said. Alexo stared at him for a moment with narrow eyes and Lance forced himself to not sweat. Finally Alexo shrugged as well, easing up his glare.

“Anyway. You guys wanna hear about the cute boy I met at the gas station?” He asked and both Lance and Hunk peeked up, Hunk eager for drama and Lance eager for a distraction. Lance listened as his brother launched into the story of the entire encounter, not skimping on any of the details on the guys looks and how easily the other language rolled off his tongue, how the guy would be at COTA and Alexo was lowkey seriously thirsty for him.

He listened as best he could but despite himself he couldn't help but to wonder what had had Keith so freaked out. What was so bad that would change his life? And it would also affect Shiro? We're his parents actual Asian crime bosses? That ran a Magic and they were forcing their kids to join by killing someone? Was there an arranged marriage? Do people even do those still? What could be so big that it would change how everyone looked at him and treated him?

Whatever it was, would it change his own view on Keith? Would he suddenly treat him differently? He liked to think he wouldn't, but after everything changed or whatever, if he ever DID try to do a collab with Keith it wouldn't be genuine.

He pulled his phone out quickly, going back to twitter as an idea struck his head.

 

‘ **Sharpshooting-Blue** _@lancealot_ : you guys have been asking for it for a LONG time now. I feel like I should try to deliver. So, @heteroDON’t will you do a collab with me? ‘

 

He posted it, grinning to himself. No matter what happened, he would do the collab with Keith, the offer being made before anything changed. He knew this would blow up, and Keith would wake up to his phone being bombarded, but he was excited. Already there were comments flying in, people retweeting like crazy. Their rivalry was legendary. This would be huge.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know I'm overdue but I'm on vacation and have been sans laptop until i snagged my grandpa's and I won't be home until Sunday so the next chapter will be late as well. That being said, I want to say that I'm lowkey really disappointed in the lack of comments I mean like...the only reason I post stories is to get feedback and because people seem to like them. I only know if you guys like them if you leave comments and I don't want to be that person that demands comments but there's no reason to continue t post these stories for other people if I can't get feedback, so PLEASE if you have a minute then leave a comment down below, tell m what you though, what you liked, what you didn't like. Tell me what you guys think will happen or what you want to happen! Communicate with me! Sometimes I'll shift the story due to a suggestion or something from a commenter or I can ask questions yo may have I respond to everyone who leaves a comment.


	8. Getting ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a tiny crush on Oliver bc he's hot af, he has a very extensive skin and makeup routine, and Lance finds out Keith and Shiro are from Marmora and at the Garrison. Lance also grabs Nyma's boob.

Keith rolled over, grunting when he found his face in Shiro's chest. It wasn't like they hadn't cuddled before, they were brothers and both had plenty of issues and years where they were the only ones around for each other. So platonic, brotherly cuddling wasn't something that didn't happen. But it didn't happen often, let alone with three other people in the room. He pushed himself up groggily, wondering what had woken him up, blinking hard to see that the others were grumbling awake as well, shifting. 

“Shit..guys we slept through the first four alarms,” Erick grunted and Keith sat up, his hair sticking up at every angle. 

“Hope you're dressed!  We’re coming in!” A girlish voice called before the door opened. Shiro jolted awake, shirtless like the rest of the guys, excluding Erick. Like this, with both of them just waking up both Keith and Shiro's scars and tattoo was viable. Shiro had a prominent, thick scar across his face, stretching across his nose and stopping under the middle of each eye, the skin discolored a pinkish white. Keith had a jagged, deep one of the same color on his shoulder. Both of them had almost exactly the same scar on their stomachs over their kidney that wasn't as ugly looking, it having healed much better. Under both of their collar bones was the same tattoo, the one all Koganes got once they turned 19. Keith had a solid red V on his chest, two inches under his collar bones. It was wide, stretching the expanse of his chest, thickening towards the middle but dipped on the top at an angle, tilting again before meeting. It was outlined in black, while Shiro had the same placement. His outlined in purple and filled with black. 

Keith looked as Jenna and Kim walked in, both dressed and ready. They both looked great, and it annoyed Keith that he probably looked like shit. He really just wanted to go back to bed, the time difference kicking his ass. At home it would be 8 in the morning, here it was 11. 

“We woke up late too, around 9 so we took advantage and used both bathrooms to get showers and stuff done.  Remember we have to meet with our instructors and the press at 2, so you all need to be ready by 1:30,” Jenna instructed, her hands on her hips. The guys shared looks. Jenna was the oldest, out of all of them and had taken to mothering the lot of them in the past two months of them knowing they were faces. 

“We’re going to go get food and bring it back, so you guys should start getting ready so we’ll be ready. Make sure your phones are charged because we have a lot planned for today after the press meeting!”  She chirped and Keith nodded slowly. 

“Yeah, okay,” he said before turning and flopping back into bed, dragging the blanket back over himself. He heard a couple of thumps and knew it was probably Oliver and Donovan who had followed his lead.

He closed his eyes stubbornly, not wanting to deal with the world or be awake yet. He still had to talk to Shiro about what they were going to do, even with the idea Lance had given him. He was still nervous as hell about being exposed.  Normally he didn't have to cover his tattoo because his shirt covered it, but with COTA there was no telling so he'd have to cover it with the make up he and Shiro used specifically for covering up tattoos and scars. That and he was tired as hell. 

Surprisingly, he was actually allowed to fall back asleep for about 30 minutes before someone was shaking him awake. He blinked, ready to fend off Erick's pervy hands before he realized it was Shiro. 

“Shower is open. We take longer than everyone else so they showered before us,” Shiro did and Keith grunted, knowing he wouldn't get any sleep till later. 

“Okay, what time is it?”  Keith asked, sitting up and rubbing his face. 

“It's 11:40 so we need to hurry if we’re going to be ready, we also need to talk about what we’re going to do,” Shiro said and Keith nodded. 

“Alright, let me shower and wake up before we talk,” he said and Shiro nodded, walking into the bathroom with his bath bag and clothes. Keith swung out of bed, standing and swaying slightly, counting to five as black clouded his vision. When it cleared he went to his suitcase, grabbing his bath bag before pulling out his underclothes, knowing he'd have to iron his jacket and shirt for the press conference.

He went to the bathroom that was in the girls room, the guys bathroom having been across from their room. He set up his stuff, shucking his clothes and hopped in. 

The water helped him wake up and he went over the plan they had all agreed to last night. Originally they were going to get up early and get food before heading to the press meeting but that part was scratched seeing as they had all slept in. So they'd eat here, spend about two hours doing an interview and photo shoot while meeting the other schools faces for dance. Then, if he remembered correctly they'd eat again and go around and sight see or something. Mini golf was on the agenda somewhere. 

He sighed, turning the water off he grabbed his towel, making sure his hair wasn't dripping before toweling off his body, pulling on his underwear. He wiped down the mirror, finishing his face routine that couldn't be done in the shower, throwing on the face mask before he pulled his make up out. 

Now, despite what Lance had claimed in a video, he knew his way around makeup and skincare. He was raised by someone from Korea and someone from Japan from the age of ten, so he knew how to hide any imperfections he might have.  As long as you were pretty on the outside you could be rotting on the inside. Of course unless you were famous or related to someone famous. Then you had to be pretty and a decent person. 

Keith sighed, deciding to ignore the scar on his shoulder.  It wouldn't be visible at any part of today. Instead he covered the top of his tattoo so if he unbuttoned his shirt it wouldn't be visible, then he moved down and covered the scar on his abdomen, knowing there was a good chance of his shirt riding it up or straight up being pulled up for the photo shoot. 

By the time it was covered and set he could take the mask off, tossing it into the little trash can. He clipped his bangs back and went to town, applying his makeup. He had dark grey eyeliner on his tight lines, blending it and applying it so that his eyes looked a bit bigger while putting a bit brighter than his skin tone on his eyelids so it opened up his eyes, the corners a bit darker. He hadn't applied any contour more than a smidge, not enough to drastically change anything, just enhancing it slightly. He set everything, pulling on his tanktop carefully, not wanting to smudge his face. Pants were next and once he had them on he opened the bathroom door so anyone else who wanted to check their appearance could. 

 

~_~

 

“We’ve got an hour to eat before we have to leave!”  Jenna yelled as she practically kicked the door open, carrying two bags of food, the rest of the girls piling in behind her, all carrying either food or drinks.  

Keith looked up from where he was sitting on the top of the couch, Oliver in between his legs as he maneuvered the bluenettes long hair.  Shiro was at the counter ironing his and Keith’s shirts and jacket.  

“You guys took forever,” Keith commented and Jenna gave him a steely glare as she set the bags down.   

“Yeah, Keith and Shiro were  _ both _ ready before you got back,” Erick commented.  

“It was super busy and they got our order wrong the first time,” Kim said, quick to appease any argument before it started.  

“Well, we should all eat quickly and finish getting ready.  You girls still have to change into your press clothes,” Shiro said there were hums of agreement.  Erick and Donovan moved from the couch to claim their food and Keith bit at his lip, slipping the kanzashi sticks into place to hold the rather intricate bun he had created, two long strips of his bangs hanging on the sides of his face.  

“It won’t take long to curl those, just plug in the curler before you eat so it heats up,” Keith said and Oliver nodded, checking it with a compact mirror with a grin.  

“It looks really good Keith.  I owe you one,” Oliver said and Keith nodded.   _ I mean you could fuck me into the mattress and we’ll call it even if you want _ .  Keith thought without meaning too, startled by his own thoughts.  A tiny blush hit his face as Oliver got up to go get the curler.  Okay so  _ maybe _ he had a tiny little crush on Oliver, but really that’s all it was.  A little friend crush, it was just fun.  It didn’t even scrape what Keith felt for Minho.  Besides even if Oliver offered Keith would say no...he was 99.99999% sure of it.  Or, as Slav would say, completely impossible in  _ this  _ reality, but totally plausible and likely in another reality.

Keith got up, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, taking the to-go box from ihop.  He opened it to two huge fluffy waffles, two sausages and two bacon stripes.  He looked up, making eye contact with Kim who winked.  He sent her a grin.  It was their ‘thing’ in freshman year, to run go get waffles or pancakes at ungodly hours or randomly throughout the day.  He had forgotten how it had started but because of it happening Keith had opened up a little to her, not pulling her super close but within reaching distance.  Which was good.  He liked to have everyone within reaching distance, but not exactly touching.  There had to be enough space for him to stretch and actively try, or vice versa to get to them.  Anyone that tried to step closer would be immediately casted to the outer rims of his social circle.  

Shiro passed him one of the bottles of syrup they had picked up and Keith took it, humming happily when he realized it had been heated up.   _ Good shit _ .  He and Shiro had talked about what they were going to do and Shiro had loved the idea Keith presented, saying it would be easier that way and it avoided hurt feelings.  His anxiety had decreased dramatically, once again replaced with excitement.  He leaned against the counter, pulling his phone from his back pocket and turning it on as he dug into his pancakes excitedly.  His phone took a minute or two to load since he had completely shut it down before going to bed last night.  The screen was blank, no notifications.  Keith hummed, setting it down to focus on his food to give it a chance to process.  

A second later it started to vibrate, sounds to signal notifications going off so fast there wasn’t any pauses.  Keith froze mid chew, his anxiety shooting back up.   _ Someone must have leaked our names _ , he thought, trying to control his breathing before he panicked.  

He was well aware that all eyes were him, or well, his phone rather, and he couldn’t offer an explanation.  Staring, leaning more towards a glare, at his phone in confusion and nervousness.  He didn’t even want to look at it.   After two straight minutes it stopped and everyone seemed to let out a collective sigh.  

“Shit man, I knew that his offer was huge news but I didn’t think it would be  _ that _ big,” Erick said, posting the video he had taken of Keith’s phone to his snapchat.  Keith looked up at him.  

“What offer?  What’s big news?”  He asked, almost defensively.  Erick shrugged, pointing towards Keith’s phone with a pancake filled spoon-the beast- and grinned.  

“Guess you should scroll to the bottom and find out,” he said.  Keith swallowed hard, taking another bite of his pancakes before picking his phone up again.  Shiro, his dearest, most faithful brother pulled his own phone out, recording as Keith started to scroll through the notifications on his lock screen so he could go directly to the source.  

“Wow, I think I had maybe a third of the amount of notifications like that one time when my mom thought I had been kidnapped.  Keith hummed, not really paying attention as he swiped down, catching glimpses of sentences.  A lot of his hardcore fans had users he recognized, a few people he followed as well were freaking out over something about him.  A few more scrolls and he caught the other name.   _ Lance. _

“Were you actually kidnapped?”  One of the other girls asked and Kim looked over, her face twitching slightly.  

“No...I got stuck on top of an ice cream truck trying to steal back my dollar that the ice cream man stole from me.  That Bubbles ice cream pop did  _ not _ look like her,” Kim said and laughter erupted in the room but Keith hardly noticed, his head swimming with worst case scenario’s.   _ Lance took screenshots and posted them.  He told people about what we talked about, he spilled secrets, told everyone that I have a complicated relationship.  What if he put everything together and realized I’m a Kogane?  What if that random guy from the store figured it out!?  I can’t deal with it, I can’t.  Where can I move too that has internet access and no people?  Ireland maybe?  Ireland doesn’t have people...or internet.  Fuck.  What the FUCK!?   _   His stomach filled with dread as he FINALLY got to the bottom, no other notifications below the last one.  It would have been a relief to get to the bottom, however his fears only intensified when he saw that the beginning of this  _ was _ from Lance.  He slowly swiped the notification, putting in his password.  

Guilt washed over him, a slow but firm blush rolling it’s way to his cheeks.   _ Oh. _

~_~

 

Keith looked around as he, along with the other Marmora students stepped onto the Garrison's campus.  Keith honestly, in a word, was underwhelmed.  He had to remind himself that the quality of the buildings and campus wasn’t exactly a representation of the students there or of the skill level, but  _ still _ .  The buildings looked older, looking like they were made from brick, or drywall that was covered in fancy looking hardened plastic.  Nothing close to the black and white marble that coated Marmora’s buildings or the pink and white granite Altea liked.  It wasn’t even the shiny, glass and diamonds look of Juilliard.  Then again, it wasn’t a university.  It was a college.  He ignored the cameras pointing at him along with news reporters trying to get past the hired security for the faces of Marmora.  Keith was walking next to Kim, both of them having the bags Marmora had given them over one shoulder.  His was black and red, the school symbol on it while hers was black and white.  On the other side of him was one of the faces for music.  He liked him well enough, though it could be difficult to work with him seeing as he tried to grab all of the solos or try to take melody no matter what song it was.  He and Keith had had a few...disagreements before but usually they were fine.  Garrison students aligned the walls and the quad, watching Altea and Marmora arrive along with the news crews.  Everyone from Marmora was wearing a dark purple shirt to show which school they were from, excluding the faces who wore their jackets over the purple shirt so they stood out.  Altea was doing the same thing, but they were wearing soft pink, the faces having embroidered pastel blue ponchos that flowed around their shoulders and down to the middle of their arms, strands draping from it with pink beads at the end.  Around the neck it folded and bunched together, causing the collar to dip heavily down the chest while keeping the hole around the neck small.  Keith had felt Allura’s when she got hers for theater, and while he’d never pick those colors for himself he really liked how soft it was.  

He looked back to the camera he was holding up after gathering a few observations of the campus.  

“Okay so...it’s definitely not Marmora or Altea which is what I’ve gotten used too, and it’s not Juilliard...but it doesn't look awful.  I mean, it looks like an average college campus that focuses on more than any form of art so I can’t really say anything bad about it. “  Keith said and Shiro suddenly slowed from in front of him, wedging his way in between Keith and the other guy, holding up his phone.  

“Look and there’s Keith who is also doing a vlog, keith say hi to my fans,” Shiro said and Keith shot Shiro’s camera a grin, throwing a peace sign up at the camera.  

“Hi Shiro’s fans, please stop shipping me with my brother and writing porn about us!”  He said and Shiro snorted, shaking his head.  

“Yeah guys it’s kinda weird to do that,” he said and Keith shrugged, glancing around again so he wouldn’t run into anyone before he looked back at his camera.  

“Honestly I don’t mind the fanfiction and fanart of me with other people because that’s just that it is is you guys having fun but if you’re going to fetishize and sexualize a relationship that is 100% platonic and is between SIBLINGS, then I prefer if you keep it to yourself,” Keith said and Shiro nodded, slinging his arm around Keith’s shoulders.  

“Okay so Keith tell them how Marmora is going to dominate the stage at Clash of the Arts,” Shiro said ad Keith smirked.  

“We’ve been working on everything for a really long time.  We’re gonna wipe the floor the others,” Keith said before glancing at Shiro.  “Oh wait are you live streaming?  Dude I thought you were just recording,” Keith said and Shiro shrugged.  

“I’m  _ hip _ Keith.  Get used to it,” he said and Keith’s face blanked, looking back ot his camera.  

“This is what I live with,” he said and Shiro laughed.  

“You love me,” he said and Keith rolled his eyes.  

 

//pov switch//  

 

Lance’s hand shot out, grabbing Nyma by the boob.  He was sure he had aimed for her arm, but whatever.  

“Uh...Lance I know you’re into PDA but come on…” She said while Alexo just blinked.  Lance didn’t look up from his phone, barely breathing.  

“They’re...they’re here,” Lance whispered and Nyma frowned, prying Lance’s hand from her chest and looking at his phone.  

“Who’s here?”  She asked but Lance couldn’t bring himself to say nothing at all, watching as Keith rolled his eyes at Shiro.  

“Sometimes you’re worse than Lance with the jokes and puns.  You act like you’re training to be a dad,” Keith said, pulling down his own camera and turning it off, handing it to a really cute girl next to him.  

“I’m insulted.  Kim, defend my honor by punching your boyfriend,” Shiro said and Kim looked over at Keith with a sly look.  Keith looked visibly nervous which was weird to see.  Also, Lance thought that Keith’s relationship didn’t have a label?  And he was with a dude?  Maybe ‘Kim’ was a guy?  He didn’t know, or judge, but he didn’t understand the jealousy that ran through him.   _ Must be because that person is super pretty and it’s wasted on a mullet. _  He thought.  

“Kim...Kim I want you to remember we’re not dating...Kim oh my-fUUUUc-de.  Fudge.  I’m telling Minho, he’s gonna beat your ass for bruising me,” Keith grumbled, rubbing at his arm where Kim had landed a solid sounding punch on him.  Kim laughed, shaking her head.  

“He’ll applaud me.  Not like he doesn’t bruise you himself,” She said and Lance internally bristled.  Minho.  That must be Keith’s partner.  The one Keith was having problems with.  He  _ bruised _ Keith?  The idea of Keith being in an abusive relationship made him want to beat the bastard into the dirt.  Shiro snorted, looking at the camera with an amused grin.  

“It’s true.  Keith’s regular dance partner Minho and he are literally always bruised because they practice until super late doing difficult moves and end up running into each other or something or hitting each other in the face,” Shiro said and Keith had a grim expression.  

“You’re not a Marmora dance student unless you’ve gotten a black eye or a broken bone while practicing,” he said and Shiro looked at the camera with a nod.  

“One time I was with Oliver, he’s been in a few of my videos, we were trying to do this really complex move with flips and we had never done it before right?  We ended up kicking each other in the face,” Shiro said and both Kim and Keith laughed.  

“I remember that.  Your nose would  _ not _ stop bleeding and Oliver had to give you his shirt to help keep the blood from getting everywhere while the girls dug in their bags for tampons to shove up your nose,” Keith snickered and Shiro sent an evil smirk at the camera.  

“Yeah, and instead of helping me out you couldn’t stop staring at Oliver,”  he said and Keith’s face heated up, opening his mouth to rebuke something but closing it and looking away.  

Lance swallowed hard, his phone screen suddenly going dark as Nyma turned it off.  

“This is a good thing Lance.  You can do your collab with Keith way earlier than you expected, and you get to meet Shiro,” Nyma said but Lance barely heard her.  He knew she was right, but he couldn’t get over the fact that Keith was actually here.  At the Garrison.  And he was from Marmora.  Not only was he from Marmora, he was a  _ face _ of Marmora.  

Keith was in one of the best schools not only in the country, in the fucking world.  He was in there with the best of the best.  And he was one of the best of the best.  Lance had known Keith was an excellent dancer, and he knew he was way out of Lance’s league.  But this?  This was just salt in his wound.  Keith was winning the game and Lance wasn’t even a player.  

 

//pov change//

 

Keith checked himself in the mirror, checking his appearance.  He had his spiderman snapback around one of his belt loops so it rested on the side of his hip.  He had black skinny jeans that were pretty flexible, purple dancing sneakers, the ‘face’ jacket on and a deep purple shirt under it.  His hair was styled so his bangs were in his face but not in his eyes, a red blindfold in his back pocket.  On his stomach the Marmora symbol was painted in black and purple, just like it was painted on the rest of their stomachs.  The guys were all wearing the same thing, the only thing that differed was their shoes or if they had a hat on their side, and then the color of their blindfolds.  The girls were in purple crop tops that was form fitting, tight black shorts that came down mid thigh, purple high heeled boots, the ‘face’ jacket on as well.  Their stomachs were painted as well.  The guys had chosen their outfits to make sure they coordinated with the ones the girls wore so when they took pictures they looked good.  

Keith licked his lips, holding his shirt up to look at his stomach.  His scar wasn’t visible, and neither was his tattoo, covered by makeup.  The belly-button piercing he had gotten a month ago was still in, a red dragon that had gems in in so it all but sparkled when light shone on it.  Shiro came up next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.  

“You look good, the scars aren't visible,” Shiro said, examining his face before pulling up his own shirt, nodding when the only thing you could see was the Blade’s symbol and no scar. “Are you nervous?”  Shiro asked and Keith snorted.  

“Not as much as I probably should be.  I just don’t want to be exposed, you know?”  Keith said and Shiro nodded.  

“I understand.  But we won’t be exposed.  Now come on, Thace wants to talk to us,” Shiro said and Keith let his shirt drop, looking at his brother.  

“This is going to be a good two weeks, I can feel it,” Keith said and Shiro stepped back, looking around suspiciously.  

“A positive attitude?  Who are you and what have you done with my brother!?”  He said and Keith scoffed, pushing at his shoulder before turning, walking toward the group gathering around Thace and Mrs. Ginn.  He didn't know why, but he felt like this was going to be a huge deal, something sometime in the coming two weeks was going to happen and change Keith’s view and life.  He just hoped it wouldn’t be in a bad way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know I said they would meet in this chapter but if I had done that then this chapter would have been SUPER SUPER fucking long. So just know that the next chapter there WILL be a collision and lots of drama and it'll be filled with dances and links so be prepared. Also! 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS THEY MADE ME SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY AND REALLY INSPIRED AND THEY ACTUALLY REALLY AFFECTED THE TONE OF THIS CHAPTER SO PLEASE CONTINUE TO COMMENT LIKE BEFORE BECAUSE I LOVED HEARING WHAT YOU GUYS THOUGHT AND FINDING OUT WHAT YOU GUYS WANTED TO SEE. It also really helps me self reflect so I can adjust any mistakes I made or so I can remember something for later on in the story, like if I use the same word to much or if something is getting so repetitive that it's not interesting any more (I hate when that happens) So please! Keep the comments coming! (I'm also a slut for validation). 
> 
> Other news, I'm home so I should be back to the 'every three days' update, but school is starting soon so I may have to adjust, thank you all for your patience. 
> 
> Want to know how this chapter ALMOST ended up? Here's how it almost went down. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GDHeOTDatJ83KmOyx39gpsYhXj7DwKsG-V58mMK_ZIs/edit It would pick up right after Keith saw Lance's offer and the time cut happened. Read it and tell me what you thought about that and if you liked how the chapter turned out in the end compared to what it almost was. Warning though, it's a bit nsfw. Not much, like it's not really detailed or anything. 
> 
> That's it for this time. I hope you all enjoyed it and please don't forget to comment! 
> 
> (ps: there's 69 kudos on this story ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )


	9. He's not your territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith performs, Lance is a thirsty boi, Alexo is also thirsty, Kim is protective, and Minho makes a statement that Lance doesn't take to kindly.

Lance didn’t know what to feel, taking his seat next to Nyma in the spots reserved for the Garrison dance majors.  They were in bright, almost neon orange, Marmora in dark purple, Altea in a pretty pale pink and Juilliard in red.  He was a bit overwhelmed with everything.  Seeing Marmora and Altea arrive and walk in specific groups, all of them looking at the Garrison as if they were on an alien planet.  They were all talking and what not, but the discipline they held was clear in every movement they made, especially in the Marmora students.  They looked uniform, clear determination in every inch of their bodies.  He was out of his league here.  These people were planning on making a living from their dancing, this was their _life_ , not a backup plan.  Then, as if he wasn’t already nervous, fucking Keith and Shiro were here.  Keith went to Marmora.  Keith was a dance major at Marmora.  Keith was a _face_ of Marmora.  Ms. Finnie had explained to him what they were, and then told him since the Garrison wasn’t _actually_ apart of COTA yet, they had different rules for their faces and performance.   Like there should only be two girls and two guys, and the dances were to be shorter.  

He wasn’t sure if he was happy that Keith went to such a great school, or if he was angry.  He had no reason to be angry about it, he really didn’t.  But the irrational part of him was jealous.  He was jealous because Keith went to a school he hadn’t applied too because it didn’t fit his needs.  Because Keith was one of the best of the best.  That Keith went to a school where even if Lance _had_ applied he wouldn’t have made the cut.  Now Keith was here, at Lance’s college, looking down on him, sneering and shoving the fact that Lance wouldn’t pursue a life as a dancer in his face.  

He jumped when he felt a sharp elbow in his side, looking over at Nyma who was giving him a scolding look.  

“Get out of your feelings Lance.  It’s not like Keith showed up to spite you.  He’s here for COTA, like everyone else.  Calm down, take a breath and try to enjoy this week.  You were bouncing off of the walls about an hour ago,” she said and he sunk in his chair, tugging at his shirt.

“I know I know...I guess I just wasn't ready to actually see him in person.  Like when he agreed to do a collab I thought we’d have more time.  I don’t even have anything ready.  Also, what if he doesn’t want to do a collab during COTA?  What if he thinks he’s better than me because I go to the Garrison and he goes to _Marmora_ .   _Marmora_ Nyma.   _Marmora_.  I bet he’ll take one look at this god awful orange on me and straight up ignore me.  He’s always been an asshat, thinking he’s too good for his fans, besides, maybe I’ve changed my mind.  His mullet is uglier in person,” Lance said and Nyma rolled her eyes, leaning over and pinching his side.  He yelped, wiggling away and swatting at her hand.  “I’ll bite you,” he threatened.  She gave him an exasperated look.  

“Lance, he doesn’t even know you’re here.  And you didn’t see him in person, you saw him on Shiro’s live stream while they walked through the Garrison.  Just pretend you don’t know he’s here until you actually run into him,” Nyma said and Lance clenched his fists for a moment before relaxing them, nodding to her.  

“Right, you’re right.  I should calm down,” Lance said and Nyma nodded, both of them falling quite and shifting in their seats as the lights dimmed.  Iverson walked out onto the stage and Lance watched as he introduced himself, welcoming the other schools to the Garrison and what not.  

“Now, I would like to welcome Professor Thace from Marmora’s Blade to the stage,” Iverson said and Lance perked up a bit more as a tall man walked on stage.  He had a sharp angle to his face but not unattractive,  he had a groomed goatee and a mohawk, the sides of his head close shaven. He held a microphone up as the crowd calmed down their clapping.  

“Thank you, thank you, I must say it’s great to be here, change of scenery can be nice sometimes,” he laughed.  “Now I’m sure all of you are excited to start Clash of the Arts.  So I’ll get this done with.  I’m sure all of you know, but in case you do not I’ll gloss everything over.  Over the next two weeks you will all be scrambled and mixed together, you’ll be instructed by different professors from the different schools.  You’ll push your bodies and mind harder than you have before.  There’s one of two things you’ll get from this event.  You’ll gain a deeper understanding of yourself and how to move to music, or you’ll crumble under the pressure.  This event is for the elite, for people who take their craft serious.  It’s designed to push you past your limits so later on you can push the boundaries of dance.  We’ve been doing this for many years, and we’re all very excited to have the Garrison host for us this year for their trial run.  Now without further adue, I believe that the faces chosen to represent the Garrison have their first dance,” He said and the lights dimmed again, both Iverson and Thace walking off the stage.  The screen that had been set up and the projector turned on.  A short video of the four people chosen by the Garrison showed up, showing them practicing, saying their names and what year they were in before the dance started.  

 

[(Garison's first dance, skip to 0:20 )](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVoNwiFIPRU)

 

It wasn’t that long, but then again they were only supposed to do one short one and one full length.  Lance thought it was good, so he clapped for them, glad that they had good dancers representing them.  They all waved, smiling widely at the crowd before they filed off, Iverson coming on the stage again.  

“Wow, how great was that?  Now, the guys of Marmora’s Blade will be taking the stage, and I’ve been told they have a special surprise for us!”  Iverson said, clearly trying to amp up the crowd.  The applause was a bit louder, but Lance couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed, wanting to see a dance in person.  He had seen videos of COTA’s dances and kick off’s, and many other videos of students from Marmora performing at an event.  The screen once again lit up, the camera showing the faces doing part of their dance.  One by one they appeared, introducing themselves and their year, talking a little bit about what they were working on or a bit the school, clips of them dancing blurred behind them.  Lance caught his breath when Shiro came on screen, and many people recognized him from youtube, cheers and catcalls rising throughout the crowd.

“I’m Shiro and I’m a third year, I think the best part of being chosen as a face is the fact that I get to represent a school that has done nothing but give to me.  Marmora is like a second home to me, and working with the other faces, staying up till the crack of dawn or the entire group going out to eat has been a great experience,” he said, and then his image was replaced with Keith.  Again, catcalls and cheers rose from the crowd and Lance’s heart constricted.  

“I’m Keith, I’m a second year and I’m the youngest face out of all of us by about two months,” he laughed softly and Lance put his hand over his mouth, watching intently.  “It’s an honor to be chosen as a face for Marmora, and I really enjoyed getting to know not just the guys, but the girls as well.  I wasn’t looked down on because of my age and I think that’s what a lot of people like about Marmora.  My ideas were listened to and I wasn’t dismissed, especially in the dances we’ve put together.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever done anything this hard and there was some definite times where all of us were just stuck scratching our heads trying to find a way to push ourselves higher.  So to show our dedication, our first dance will be performed for you, but we will be blindfolded for more than half of the dance, I hope you guys enjoy,” The screen faded and Lance stared in shock.  There was silence in the room for a moment before the five men walked out.  The crowd cheered and clapped but Lance didn’t move.  He was about three rows away from the stage, and he could see Shiro and Keith clearly.  

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Keith, his mullet was pulled into a ponytail, his jeans hugged onto his legs like their life depended on it, and that jacket made his mouth water.  The camera didn’t do Keith justice.  He was _gorgeous_.  He watched as all five of them got into position, reaching into their back pockets in unison before holding out blindfolds for the crowd to see.  Lance jumped when Nyma grabbed his arm.  

“Holy shit, they’re actually going to do it,” She whispered as they put them on.  She leaned a little closer.  

“Keith is really hot in person,” she said and Lance scoffed, swatting her away as the music started.  

 

[(Marmora’s 1st dance.  Shiro  is the one who starts in the middle, Keith is the one who starts on his left and only other one with black hair.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9adi5YjQbI)

 

Lance watched in awe, blushing when they lifted their shirts, rolling their stomachs to show off the symbol.  A glint caught Lance’s eye and his mouth dropped.   _Is that...a belly ring?!_  He thought to himself, shaking his head to try and clear his vision but by then the shirts were down.  The entire thing was crazy, and Lance was amazed they were so coordinated while blind.  When their blindfolds came off Lance thought maybe it was over.  He was wrong.  The image of Keith humping the floor, looking at the audience like some kind of sex depraved siren had him crossing his legs, his blush spreading from his cheeks to the rest of his face.  

 

//pov switch//

 

Keith bowed to the crowd before walking off the stage, catching his breath along with the rest of them.  Shiro slung an arm around his shoulders and Keith couldn’t help but to smile, still being able to hear the audience.  

“I thought for sure I was going to trip right before the jump,” Oliver laughed, stepping aside from the wings.  Keith looked at Shiro.  

“Two more to go, I think the blindfolds gave us the edge,” he said and Shiro hummed.  

“We won’t know until after everyone goes,” he said and Keith nodded, pulling away to watch from the side as the music for the Altean faces started.  They were always more theatrical with their dances and were interesting to watch, to say the very least.

 

  [(Altea's first dance)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwk1uFM7dF0)  (Skip to 0:14)

 

It was good, Keith could get behind the story there, he clapped politely when they were finished, turning to the group of girls who were doing last minute stretches while Juilliard went up.  The girls would go, then Altea would go again before the guys were supposed to go again.  Keith and Shiro’s dance was dead last.  It flew by, Keith taking a few selfies for snapchat, getting one where he and Oliver were both in the screen and right as Keith took the picture Erick swooped in and Kissed his cheek.  Keith posted it, but not after punching his arm hard enough to cause the senior to pout at him, then it was time to go up again.  Keith handed his phone to Kim, walking back onto the stage.  The crowd had been _really_ warmed up so they were louder than before now, heavy support coming from the area filled with purple.  He got into his place, taking a deep breath before the music started.

 

  [(Marmora’s 2nd dance.  Start at 1:47 Shiro is the bigger guy, Keith is the one who stands on his shoulders at the beginning)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50Ok3jNGQ0)

 

//pov switch//

 

Lance stared, watching Keith lay on the stage, his chest heaving with the effort.  That dance looked like it was _exhausting_ , and they still had the rest of the day.  After a moment they all stood up, bowing to the crowd again.  This time, as Keith left the stage he caught sight of the back of his jacket.  R.K.K.  Initials?  But that couldn’t be, because his first name was Keith...wasn’t it?  

Something stirred inside of him, he wasn’t sure what the fuck it was, but it was there.  First, he was definitely not okay with the fact Keith was ten times hotter in person, he was also shorter.  Also Lance was torn between being furious and awed by the fact Keith could fit his god awful mullet into a ponytail and have it look good.  That should be a _crime_.  Also, the way his body moved was definitely illegal.  Sirens should be sounding any second to come and arrest him.  He had hardly been able to look away from him.  

Now, don’t get him wrong, he had definitely watched Shiro as well.  He was also hotter in person, and Lance was still thirsty for him, but his younger brother had out shined him with the smallest of things.  A look here, a little extra hip swivel or a smirk towards the audience, a lick of the lips or something small that didn’t change the dance but changed the tone.  He was like a siren and Lance would find himself leaning forward, trying to get more of Keith, to absorb the experience.

It wasn’t until the last dance was starting and it was _just_ Keith and Shiro, that Lance decided on an emotion.  Jealous anger.  He watched as they came from opposite sides of the stage, greeting each other with confident smirks.  

 

  [(](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0grjZGXRc) [Keith and Shiro’s face dance, Keith is the one without a jacket.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0grjZGXRc)

 

It was one thing to be talented, it was another to be a show off.  There Keith was, at _his_ school, smirking, moving his hips sinfully and sporting a confident look on his face, as if he _knew_ he had half of the crowd ready to get on their knees for him.  He knew he was one of the best there, and it pissed Lance off.   _He’s one of those people who doesn’t even work for it.  He was probably born with talent and had expensive lessons.  He has the money and the talent to get into Marmora so now he thinks he’s better than everyone.  Better than ME._  Lance thought angrily.   _Pretentious little shit.  Bet he doesn’t have a problem in the world.  Everything is laid out for him._ Lance simmered.  The dance came to an end, roaring applause from the audience had both of them bowing and grinning, leaving the stage.  Iverson walked onto the stage, saying a few words before telling everyone where to go.  

They had each been given a number 1-15, and that would be the class they were in.  Apparently there was roughly 200 students that came from the other three schools, combined with the hundred or so dance majors participating in the event.  From what he had heard, first and second years had classes together while juniors and seniors had their own classes.  He was pretty excited since he knew he and Alexo would be in the same class thanks to dumb luck, or a certain seventeen-year old who could probably hack into the CIA if they wanted.  But whatever.  Fortunately Nyma was also in that class.  He was in group three, and once he heard where he was supposed to go he and Nyma started walking.  There room was Ms. Finnie’s, which Lance was thankful for.  He spent plenty of time with the other dance instructors and in their rooms but he spent the most time in her class.  Nyma was talking excitedly next to him as they walked among a sea of people who were weren’t completely sure of where they were going but his mind was somewhere else.  

_‘People will view me different and treat me differently once this gets out'_

_‘It will change everything,’_

_‘I’ll never be respected for what I can do because everyone will think it’s a result of that thing’_

**_‘Get rid of anyone who treats you differently’_ **

Shame and guilt ran through Lance as he remembered his conversation with Keith, remembered his own advice to him.  Was this the thing he was worried about?  Surely it couldn’t be...but then again, reflecting on himself he _had_ proved Keith’s worries correct.  He had immediately sunk into jealousy and bitterness and thought differently of him.

 _Shit...I’ve got to find him or message him so we can meet up.  He has to know I won’t treat him differently.  God I’m so petty,_ Lance scolded himself.  He was finally torn from his thoughts as Nyma jabbed him in the side.

“Hey!  Look there’s Alexo!”  She said and Lance looked up, realizing they were already in the dance building and his twin was, in fact turning into Ms. Finnie’s room that had a huge number three on it, quite eagerly.  “He looks pretty excited,” she smirked and Lance laughed, covering the fact that he had been completely zoned out.  He’d have to message Keith later, right now he had to focus on impressing the instructor and the class, especially the _ladies_.  

“He probably saw someone cute,” Lance said and she let out a giggle of agreement.  Both of them turned into the class, finding his brother in the corner or the room, his hand on the mirror as he leaned over a shorter person.  Lance shook his head, a fond smile on his face as he headed over.  One thing they had found out is they were each other's best wingman because well, who hasn’t fantasized about twins?  

“You’re that Alexo guy right?”  the voice asked, sounding unimpressed.  His brother beamed.  

“Awh, you remembered me!  What a coincidence we ended up in the same class, it must be fate,” he cooed.  There was a slight cough.  

“Yeahhh I don’t know about that.  Look I don’t know if you know this but you look a lot like someone from youtube and it’s kinda creeping me out-” the voice said and Lance decided that it was time for him to intervene.  He slid up to his brothers side, a confident smirk on his face as he crossed his arms, leaned against his brother's shoulder and crossed one foot over his ankle.

“Oh, so you’re a fan?”  He asked, slowly looking up the person’s body.  They were from Marmora, _my brother has excellent taste.  That body though,_ Lance thought but his brain seemed to short circuit when he finally made it to the person’s face.  His jaw had dropped, staring at Lance in about the same amount of shock that Lance probably wore.  

Keith was leaned against the mirrored wall, his arms crossed.  He was clearly more attractive in person while on the stage, but up close he was...breath taking.  His skin was flawless and pale.  Not sickly, but more...elegant.  His hair was down now, and it looked incredibly soft.  Lips that weren’t huge, but plump and medium, a soft pink tinge to them that made Lance want to lean closer.  Cameras weren’t able to capture such beauty.  But what _really_ took his attention was his eyes.  They were deep, deep blue but with the light hitting them they looked purple with grey flecks here and there.  Lance couldn’t find it in him to look away, until he spoke that is.  

“ _...Lance?”_  He sounded unsure, like he was hallucinating.  Lance snapped out of the spell that had been cast over him, shaking his head and blinking a few times to look at Keith.

“Keith?”  His voice cracked, coming out louder than he expected.  He quickly stood up right, clearing his throat and trying to pull his composure in.  “I mean uh...I saw you on the stage, you were really good, I mean REALLY good.  I was going to message you or something so we could meet up or something but uh…” he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, letting out a small laugh.  “Guess I don’t have too,” he finished.  Alexo frowned, shaking his head.  

“Hold on, you two know each other?”  Alexo asked incredulously and Keith looked back and forth between the two of them a couple of times before taking in a deep breath.  

“Ohhhhh...okay.  Yeah, that makes sense,” he said, more to himself and Lance frowned.  Keith pointed to him with one finger, “so you’re the brother that goes to the Garrison...and you two are related and that’s why you look so much like Lance and have the same bad flirting,”  Keith said and Lance’s jaw dropped.  

“I do not have bad flirting!”  Both Lance and Alexo exclaimed in unison and Keith looked like he had just been slapped with a fish, looking back and forth between them.  

“And by the way,” Alexo sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.  Lance did the same, turning his nose up slightly.  

“We’re not just brothers,”

“We’re twins,” they finished in unison and Keith raised a brow, looking incredibly uncomfortable.  

“I figured that out but thanks...uh-” he stopped short when a small, bony body shoved between Lance and Alexo, followed by another small body.  

“Hey!”  Lance yelped, glaring at the much smaller framed guy who had elbowed him with a sharp elbow.  The guy sent him a rather annoyed glance before he turned to Keith who looked just as shocked.  

“Haii, you did very well!”  he said, an accent heavy on his tongue as he hugged Keith, who looked like he had never been hugged before.  He slowly hugged back, squeezing him close.  Jealousy and anger flared inside of Lance.  Who the hell was this bitch?  Dismissing him so quickly?  The other body was the girl, Kim, who had been in the video and had been performing with the other faces.  

“You disappeared after your last dance and we were worried about you,” the girl said and Keith looked incredibly awkward.  

“Uh..I had to go to the bathroom…”  he trailed off as the guy hugging him pulled away, only to lean into his side, a possessive arm around his waist and his head on his shoulder.  

“Keeeeeiiiith introduce us,”  the guy said, sending a smirk towards Lance that Keith couldn't see.  Keith coughed.  

“Oh uhm..sure.  Minho, Kim, this is Alexo, the guy I met in the gas station, and this is Lance, he and I….talk on twitter a lot,” Keith said hesitantly before clearing his throat.  Lance almost felt sorry for him but he was currently wallowing in his own uncomfortable-ness.  “Lance, Alexo this is Kim, a good friend of mine, and this is Minho...myyyyy..”  Minho leaned forward a little, a fake smile on his face.

“Partner, best friend, lover,” Minho filled in and the side glance Keith threw at Minho made Lance smirk.  Ohoho...so this was definitely the mystery boy he had heard about, and things were definitely still rocky.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Kim and Minho,” he said, glancing over at Alexo.  Like the true twins they were, they seemed to understand each other perfectly, both not liking Minho.  

“So, if you two are brothers, why do you not both go to Juilliard?  Is one better than the other?”  Minho asked and Keith’s eyes widened while Lance crossed his arms once more, narrowing his eyes.  

“Minho!  Dangsin-eun geugeos-eul malhal su eobsda, geugeos-eun jeongmallo mulyehada!”  (((You can not say that, it is really rude!)))  Keith exclaimed and Minho rolled his eyes.   Lance wasn’t sure what he said, but he knew it was something scolding.  Lance shook his head.  

“No no, it’s fine, really.  I _chose_ to go to the Garrison because I’m double majoring in dance _and_ astrophysics,” Lance said with a polite smile.   _I’m going to punch the shit out of this asshat_.  He thought.  Minho sent him a nasty glare that Keith missed since he was looking at Kim in a pleading way, and before Minho could bite something towards him Kim stepped forward.  

“I think the classes will start soon.  You should get going before John convinces whatever instructor you have to lock you out,”  Kim said and Minho glanced at the time before nodding.  

“John can suck a di-...aper,” Keith caught himself, knowing he had many eyes on him.  He was representing Marmora, and it wouldn’t look good if he was cursing while at the event.  Minho snickered, patting his chest before kissing his cheek.  

“I’ll see you later,” he said and Keith nodded, almost in a daze from the action.  Minho sent Lance and Alexo a look before he plastered on a fake smile.  

“It was nice to meet you…” He said before walking away.  Lance watched him go, barely holding himself back from curling his lip in anger.   _What a fucking prick._ He thought.   _So he has problems committing to Keith...but he has no problem pissing on him to mark his territory and keep others away.  What a manipulative bitch._  

“Look, I’m sorry about him.  He doesn’t mean any harm really.  He just gets weird around people he doesn't know,” Keith said, defending the little shit.

“He didn't mean anything by it,” Kim back him up and Alexo and Lance shared a glance, neither deciding to call bullshit.  Lance shook his head, putting on a smile. He was going to be good friends with Keith. He'd been thinking about it and setting it up for the past few weeks, and now he had the most perfect opportunity...and if it ended up pissing Minho off...that would be a bonus. Keith deserved better than some pompous asshole like that.  He wouldn’t say anything now, but if they got closer then Lance would mention it.   He had a gut feeling that that wasn’t about him being awkward.  It was a message, loud and clear.  ‘This is mine, stay the fuck away,’ as if Keith was some prize.  Well, Lance had never been good at following the rules.

“Don't worry about it. He was probably shook by our shocking good looks,” Lance said and Alexo smirked, both of them leaning against each other.

“I mean, one of us is quite a sight to see,” Alexo said and Lance licked his lips, sending Keith a wink.

“But both of us is like your wildest wet dream come true,” Lance finished. Keith looked taken aback and slightly scandalized by the idea, looking over at Kim who shared a look with him before rattling something off in another language. He felt like it was Japanese but he wasn't sure. Keith opened his mouth to reply, the tips of his canines showing. Lance had to mentally slap himself at the sight of them. He had a small thing for teeth, and Keith's were...perfect. His canines at a point and brilliant white. Before Keith could actually say anything his name was being called. All four of them turned to look at the source, seeing the man who had spoke on stage. Thace, if Lance remembered correctly, standing with Ms. Finnie. More like towering over her as they stared at the group.

“Excuse me,” Keith said quietly, his voice tenser than before and an irritated look in his eye. Lance moved out of his way, watching him walk towards them. Confidence radiated off of him, drawing eyes from many people in the room. Jealousy seeped into Lance for why felt like the hundredth time today, but this time for a whole new reason.

Keith was hot as hell, the jeans he was sporting hugged his backside perfectly, sculpted legs that screamed he was an athlete of some sort. His jacket looked like it had been personally tailored for him, showing off broad shoulders and the tapered waist. But what made him jealous, was that while he got to look and appreciate the sight, so did everyone else.

  
_Oh man...this is going to be a long two weeks_. Lance thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOOO okay so here it is, please let me know if some of the links don't work and if they don't please tell me which ones :P 
> 
> Also I want to throw this out there, any time another language is typed out, if it's WRONG please don't be mad at me because I can only speak english and some rough french so if you're fluent in one of the languages actually typed out and see an error I would greatly appreciate a correction. 
> 
> Please tell me what you guys thought of this chapter, tell me what you liked and didn't like, tell me what you THINK will happen and what you WANT to happen. Seriously guys, comments are what keep updates coming fast because they inspire me. I got one comment last chapter. So shout out to the amazing @Klanceing who is an amazing person and very sweet.
> 
> Anyway, until next time!


	10. Count...he could go far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is overwhelmed with everything, and Lance is a princess.   
> Also Kim is super gay for Nyma and she's willing to sell Keith's soul to go on a date with her, Keith is worried for his life

Keith shook Ms. Finnie’s hand as he was introduced, her giving him a kind smile.  

“I’ve heard a lot about you, and I’ve been informed of your situation.  You can rest assured that your secret is safe with me,” she said and Keith eyed her suspiciously.  Thace cleared his throat slightly.  

“You’ll be protected Keith, and I made sure Kim is in here with you.  I know she’ll back you up-” He started but Keith shot him a glare.  

“I’m not a child, and I don’t expect special treatment,” he said, keeping his voice down to keep from causing a scene.  He looked at Finnie.  “Forget about what my last name is, please.  I expect to be judged and graded for my  _ skill _ and not my name.  My name didn’t put me at the top of my year, I did.  And that’s what matters,” Keith said and Ms. Finnie looked taken aback for a moment before she nodded, smiling again, a knowing gleam in her eye.  

“Well then, I expect big things from you.  The youngest face of Marmora’s dance department.  I’m not surprised you already met with  _ my _ top student,” Ms. Finnie said and Keith raised a brow, jutting his thumb behind him at where Lance and Alexo were  still near Kim, joined by a blonde girl.  Ms. Finnie nodded and Keith let out a breath of surprise.   _ Holy crap am I glad Minho didn’t hear that, _ he thought to himself.  “Yeah uh...we know each other...kind of,” Keith said and Thace stepped forward a bit.

“Well, I’m sure Keith will deliver and surpass your expectations,”  Thace said in a dismissive tone.  Keith huffed slightly but got the message, looking at Ms. Finnie.  

“I’m sure you won’t be disappointed, if you’ll excuse me,” Keith said and she nodded.  Keith turned, shoving his annoyance down.  He’d simmer about it later.  Kim, who looked like she was ignoring everything the twins were saying met his gaze, a concerned look on her face.  She could save him from everything except their instructors.  

 

**(Text in bold is being spoken in japanese)**

 

**“Are you alright?  What did he want?”**  She asked and Keith shook his head.  

**“I’ll tell you later,”** He said before looking at the others, his eyes settling on Nyma. She sent him a smile.  

“Hi Keith, I’m sure you don’t remember me but I’m-” She started but Keith nodded slightly. 

“You’re Rolo’s ex girlfriend right?   Nimah?”  He asked and her smile faltered.  

“I’m actually his  _ current _ girlfriend...Nyma,” she said and Keith felt embarrassment and awkwardness roll over him, along with instant guilt.  He’d just gone and made this ten times more awkward than it had to be, he wasn’t sure if he should just apologize or tell her that Rolo was probably tangled up with a girl at this very moment.  Surprisingly, it was Lance who broke the tension.  He laughed and Keith felt his head snapping toward the sound.  It was loud, genuine and joyful, lighting up his face.  Keith stared once again, missing whatever he said to diffuse the situation.  He was wearing makeup, nothing too dramatic but just enough that Keith could catch the slight glow of highlighter on his cheek bones, and he was  _ definitely _ wearing a mascara.  But he looked good.  It wasn’t heavy and unnatural like the things he usually posted on youtube or instagram.   _ This must be his usual, day to day makeup, _ Keith thought.  

Before he could cause any more damage, or think any gayer thoughts Thace started speaking.  

“Alright, everybody spread out,” he said.  Keith hummed, shifting towards the front of the room, Kim moving with him.  To his surprise, Nyma, Alexo and Lance went towards the front as well, the five of them taking up the front row.  The mats were laid over hardwood floor, ballet bar’s on three sides of the room on the mirrors.  Towards the corner there was a desk, off the mats and out of the way but easy to access.  Next to it was a piano, and Keith wondered if he would be able to play it if he showed up early or something. 

“My name is Thace Commander, you will address me as Professor Commander.  I instruct at Marmora, honors classes in general hip hop, solo and couples,” Thace told the class.  Ms. Finnie stepped forward then.  

“I’m Ms. Finnie, I teach here at the Garrison, mostly contemporary,” she said.  

“We will be working this class every other day, switching out with instructors from Altea and Juilliard every other day,” Thace explained.  Keith stood still, in the same form as the four other Marmora students in the room.  Feet apart, arms folded behind the back, head staring straight ahead.  It was a sign of discipline and respect and points were often deducted for not being in the proper form.  “Now, I’m sure Blade’s are already aware, and I know the rest of you probably already know but I just want to make something clear.  Class starts at nine, meaning I expect you to be changed, stretched and spread out when the clock strikes nine.  However many seconds one of you are late, the entire class gets double the amount of push ups, or until you can’t stop.  I ask you don’t push the issue or test me.  Kim.  Tell the class what you had to do a few weeks ago when someone was five minutes late,” He said and Kim spoke clearly, not moving her stance.  

“We had to do sixty push ups and run laps around campus,” she said truthfully and Keith suppressed a shiver at the memory.  Half the class had thrown up on the second lap of the campus, which was again, HUGE.  Shiro had to practically carry him into their apartment before he was dumped in an ice bath for his muscles and Allura fed him full of ibuprofen to help with swelling.  Still, he had been sore for the weekend.  

“Now, this campus is smaller than ours, but that means you’ll run more laps.  And we really don’t have a day to lose with our time schedule,” Thace said and Keith glanced toward Lance, who was in between Nyma and Alexo.   Alexo was on his left, Kim on his right.  Lance looked like he was about to start sweating at the intenseness of the threat and he suppressed a chuckle.  He couldn’t see Thace making them go through that type of punishment during COTA seeing as each school had different standards and expectations.  But he  _ could _ see them doing push ups or squats until they collapsed.  

“These two weeks are supposed to be fun, but you’re also supposed to learn a lot about different categories and you’ll be exposed to different teaching styles.  PLease take this opportunity and use it,”  Thace finished and with that Ms. Finnie stepped forward.  

“Alright, so since it’s the first day we’re going to start a little simple.  I’m going to lead you through a warm up, we’re going to go over elements found in contemporary dances and then we’ll go into hip hop,” she said.  Keith took a breath, allowing himself to feel excited despite the curveball he had been thrown.  He was still filled with that  _ feeling _ , like it would be a good two weeks.  

 

~_~

 

Keith spun, his arms tight, his body taut as he stood on his tiptoes, breaking from the spin on the fourth turn, pushing from the ground to jump.  His foot hit the ground and he let himself fold in, rolling quickly he lifted himself on one knee, reaching out as if desperate to grab onto something before he jerked his body back, his leg folded under him as he fell back onto the mat, just as he’d been instructed.  There were five lines, five people going across the room at repeat what Finnie had shown them.   To Keith, it was pretty easy, like a copycat but much shorter.  He got up, after a moment, catching his breath.  He acknowledged the few cat calls that came from some of the Garrison and Juilliard people with a nod, heading over towards where Kim was against a bar as the next five went through.  Without saying anything she handed him a small towel and an oil wipe.  He grunted his thanks, dabbing at the sweat on his face, using the wipe to remove most of the oil that had gathered on his face.  He glanced in the mirror, feeling better now that he didn’t look as greasy.  He turned, just in time to see Alexo and Lance go through the steps.  

They had about thirty minutes left, and after spending almost the entire day with Lance he was  _ not _ okay.  He had some serious skill and talent.  Keith could easily see him going to Altea if he wanted, hell, if he  _ really _ wanted to he could probably make it into Marmora.  Keith would vouch for him for sure.  But Marmora didn’t offer astrophysics, Altea, as of last year,  _ did. _  Of course though you also had to be taking some kind of art class, either fine or performing.  But Lance was double majoring, so it wouldn’t be a problem.  Maybe he just didn’t  _ want _ to go to Altea?  Maybe he had his reasons for going to the Garrison, or he couldn’t afford it?  Altea was picky about who they let in but they were great at giving scholarships.  Staying in the dorms were free, you just had to pay a percentage of the bills like water, lights, heat/AC.  But the thing was it was split evenly between everyone in that dorm building, and Altea’s buildings were built to save energy.  When Allura had lived in the dorm she said the average she had to pay every month was about 75$ to stay in state of the art dorms.  It couldn’t be more than what he must be paying now for a dorm or apartment.  And with the fact that he was double majoring would help a lot.  He was an amazing dancer, but would also add to their attempt at growing out their more sciency side.  He’d be highly valued, and depending on his grades, and maybe a push or two from Allura he might even get a full ride.

Now, not only was he good enough for Altea dance wise, he’d fit in perfectly with their beauty standard because he was hot as hell.  Not-that Keith would ever admit that to anyone.  He felt a little guilty when his glance would turn into a stare, but he couldn’t really help it.   _ It’s not like I want to sleep with him or do anything like that, I shouldn’t feel guilty because I haven’t done anything wrong.  Then again though Minho would be pretty mad if he knew I had been staring.   BUT since when is it a crime to appreciate an attractive body?  Long limbs, beautifully colored skin, deep blue eyes, soft brown hair and a smile that could blind an eagle...wait… _

“Keith?  You okay?”  Keith nearly jumped from his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder, looking up to see Lance looking at him, retracting his hand quickly at Keith’s reaction.  

“I’m sorry what was that?”  Keith asked and Kim nudged him.  

“He asked if you were okay, you were zoned out,” she said and Keith pressed his lips together for a moment. 

“Oh, yeah no I’m fine, just thinking is all-” Keith stopped when Thace caught his eye.   _ Shit _ .  

“You five in the corner, if you have enough breath to talk then maybe you’re not working hard enough,” Thace said and Keith glanced at the line, the last group going.  He mentally cursed himself.  He should have been paying better attention, should have been observing respectfully and sipping at water or something.  He knew better, he-

“Sorry Professor, I was just asking Keith how he folded his leg in on itself underneath him,”  Lance said, a guilty, apologetic smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head.  Thace narrowed his eyes for a moment before he scoffed. 

“Talk to each other later.  We have stuff to do,” Thace said and Keith barely kept his jaw from dropping.  He looked at Kim who had a look of surprise on her face that equaled how he felt.   _ Did...did Lance just cute his way out of getting punished? _

 

~_~

 

Keith pulled Kim’s hands and she sucked in a breath, closing her eyes as her legs stretched out more.  They were doing partner stretches, and Kim had locked onto Keith before Alexo could pounce on him.  Every chance he got he was dropping a flirty line or trying to stand next to him.  Keith was flattered by the attention, he really was.  Minho wasn’t the kind of person who was into PDA, he didn’t like touching at all really unless it was sex or post sex related.  He also rarely flirted or fought for Keith’s attention, mainly because he knew he didn’t need to.  That’s why it had thrown him completely off when Minho had pretty much attacked him earlier, it coming out of nowhere. So it  _ was _ nice to be noticed in a way, especially since it wasn’t completely disgusting.  On the other hand, Keith was still reeling from Minho being so direct with Lance and Alexo about them being a ‘thing’ when he  _ rarely _ would even allow Keith to tell people.  Oh, and he was still trying to get over the fact that  _ Lance _ was AT COTA, IN his class, and had a  _ TWIN _ and was actually really nice in person? 

Lance had literally been incredibly nice to him the whole day, even his teasing was good natured.  It was  _ weird _ .  Keith was almost wishing that the taller would say something snarky or make a jab at his appearance.  Keith didn’t know if he was just nicer in person in general, or maybe it was the fact he was around his twin-who he had realized Lance adored more than anything on this world-or if he was trying to impress somebody?  Maybe he was trying to impress Kim?  Or trying to get along with him to help his brother out?  Maybe he wanted to look good in front of all the girls in here.  

So long story short, he had had a  _ really _ weird day, and he was uncomfortable with the idea of doing partner stretches and touching someone he didn’t know.  Partner stretches weren’t sexual, but they so were.  Hands on inner thighs, pushing, pulling, bodies pressed together.  If it was naked it would probably be considered some weird role play.  Keith was fine when he was doing this with Minho, he had memorized that boys body and ingrained it into his mind.  And he was fine with Shiro and Kim, because he held zero romantic or sexual feelings toward them and knew them well enough to where it was okay.  Alexo though, was still a stranger, and a flirty one at that.  He didn’t want him all over him.  

They switched positions, Kim’s feet pressed on the inside of his thighs.  They locked hands as he moved his legs out as far was he could go, which was a completely split, then, she pushed them a bit further and Keith made a ‘whooo’ sound as he felt the stretch.  She pulled his torso forward and Keith closed his eyes, the slight discomfort of it was outweighed by the way his muscles thanked him, feeling the lactic acid move before it could build up and settle.  It was their last stretch, and when it was done Keith couldn’t be more thankful.  He wanted to get back to the suite, shower, and sleep.  Of course, that wouldn’t happen though.  

“Hey Keith!”  Keith looked up as came up from the stretch, closing his legs and standing so he was more even with Lance.  He tilted his head, waiting for him to continue.  He was attacked by a hopeful smile, Lance shifting his weight slightly.  “I was wondering if you wanted to get some dinner with me or something?”  He asked and Keith blinked, his brain stopping for a moment.    _ Did Lance just ask e on a date? _  “Wait!”  Lance exclaimed as he seemed to realize his error.  He waved his hands in the air quickly, as if that would take it back.  “Like, I mean with a group of people, not just one on one like a date or something but I mean we were planning on going to dinner tonight to kind of celebrate the start of COTA and I thought maybe you’d want to come.  Well, WE thought maybe you’d want to come with us or something, if you wanted to of course, I don’t want to force you into anything-”  Lance rambled and Keith let a smirk hit his lips, the action causing Lance to stop mid-sentence.  Oh man, Keith would never let this go.  

“Well Lance, can’t say I was expecting you to ask me out before your brother did,” Keith teased, crossing his arms.  Lance’s mouth dropped, his cheeks flushing red. 

“wHAT?  That’s not!  I wasn’t!  PFT!  You’d like to think-I didn’t mean it like!  Ask you out?  Pffot!  As if! I mean come on I wouldn’t-me?  On a date?  With a mullet?!  Pfft!  That’s absurd!”  Lance stumbled through his words, flustering himself even more.  Keith couldn’t help but to laugh, tilting his head back slightly as he watched Lance poke his lip out to pout while sending him probably the cutest glare he had ever seen.  

“Calm down Lance, it was just a joke,” Keith said and Lance looked like he had been slapped.  “Who is all going?”  Keith asked, curious as to what group Lance was planning on terrorizing a restaurant with.  Lance seemed to shake out his fumbling manner, a hopeful gleam in his eyes again.  Keith felt his heart prick, and he wondered if Lance was asking because he was actually interested in hanging out with him, or if he was asking for his brother.  

“Oh, well there  _ was _ going to be a bunch of us but it was cut down by half.  So now it’s going to be me, Alexo, Hunk, Pidge, and Nyma, but since people bailed it wouldn’t be a problem if you wanted to go,” Lance said and Keith glanced around them.  The class had been dismissed in the middle of ending stretches, and there weren’t many people left in the room.  Alexo, Nyma, Kim, the two of them, and then Thace and Ms. Finnie.  Thace, who was watching him like a hawk.  Keith took a breath, scratching the back of his head. 

“Uhm...it sounds like it would be fun but I think I have plans.  Shiro and I are going to hang out with a friend from Juilliard and with Allura, and I think Minho wanted to hang out, and Kim wanted to-” Keith started but Lance wiggled slightly.  

“That’s five people, you can invite them too.  Our reservation is for ten people,” Lance said and Keith bit at his lip, glancing at Kim who looked a little _ too _ into her conversation with Nyma, nodding and smiling along to what the blonde was saying.   _ Weird, she doesn’t smile for anyone.  _

“Uh...I don’t know…”  he started, looking back at Lance.  

“Keith!”  Kim said, bouncing over to him and grabbing onto his arm.  Keith looked over at her, a ‘who tf are you and what have you done with my friend’ look on his face.  “ **Nyma just invited us out to go to dinner and I can’t go alone and she is really pretty and I swear to god I will leak the nudes you accidentally sent to me if you don’t come with me because I need an escape buddy in case it goes wrong,”** **** She said, her face bright and smiling.  Keith could imagine sweat forming on his body at her words.  

“ **But I made plans with Shiro and-”** He started but she bounced as if he had said yes. 

“Perfect!”  She turned to Lance, Nyma and Alexo who had made his way over after packing up his bag.  “We have to meet up with our friends first, and talk to them, I can text you the answer once we have it.  Would we need to change into something fancy?”  She asked and Alexo shook his head, resting his elbow on Lance’s shoulder.  

“Nah, it’s a seafood place.  Casual wear is okay,” he said.  

“Where are you meeting everyone?”  Nyma asked.  

“At the little fountain outside of the theater and dance department,” Kim replied.  Lance lit up.  

“Hey, we’re meeting our group there as well!  We should just walk together,” he suggested and before Keith could register what was going on he had his bag on his shoulder and was being herded out of the room excitedly.  Alexo and Lance slid up to his sides, Nyma and Kim walking behind them.  Lance had a camera out, holding it up to record them as they walked.

“So like, are you going to introduce me to Shiro?  Like, is he as nice as he is on camera in person?”  Lance asked and Keith didn’t respond, his tired brain trying to process everything.  He felt like he was suffocating.  His senses were on fire, every smell stronger, every noise ten times louder.  He could feel his blood rush through his ears, his heart pounding faster.  His vision seemed to haze slightly, his eyes going glassy.  He hardly noticed being pulled to the side, the group walking on after a moment.  His ears were ringing and he shook slightly, trying to regain control of himself.  His brain was protesting, all the unexpected twists of today punching him in the gut.  Keith leaned against the wall with one hand, hoping to support himself so he could stay standing.  That didn’t happen, and he slowly slid to the ground. He just need a minute or two of  _ quiet _ , no one touching him or flirting, no one he didn’t expect showing up.  He was done with today's curveballs.  

After what felt like hours, which must have actually been seconds, his hearing slowly focused on what sounded like numbers.  

“One...two...three...four...one...two...three...four...five...one…”  it continued and Keith let his breathing match it, his body slowly calming down, his thoughts slowing down.  He wasn’t sure how Shiro had gotten to him, he was pretty sure he wasn’t in the area, but who else would know to count for him?  He was so grateful for Shiro, he’d be dead without him most likely.  

After a few more minutes his body stopped shaking and his breathing was normal, his brain starting to move in an acceptable manner, as if it hadn’t just thrown a tantrum.  He looked up, seeing that he had been pushed into a corner for a little bit of privacy, and someone was standing over him, as if protecting him from any prying eyes.  He swallowed, it taking a second to realize it wasn’t Shiro.   _ Long legs...dark skin...green jacket...Lance.  Shit.  Lance. _   He looked up all the way, seeing Lance watching the wall next to him, so he wasn’t directly watching Keith but could see him from the corner of his eye, as if respecting Keith’s private moment of panic.  He was still counting, and when he saw Keith look up he trailed off.  Keith just stared at him in shock before his eyes fell to the camera, which was still recording, pointed towards the ground.  Lance noticed, and turned it off. 

“I’ll uh...I’ll edit that out,” Lance said before offering a hand to him.  Keith looked at it.  “I’m sorry if we overwhelmed you, please don’t feel forced to go with us okay?  I just thought it might be a good idea so we could get to know each other more and talk about collab ideas.  And I know Pidge would probably be down to meet you in person because you guys are friends, but really.  If you want me to leave you alone or something I will because I don’t want to add any stress on you or something,” he paused when Keith took his hand, looking at him in surprise before helping him up.

“Thank you Lance...and it wasn’t you.  Just sensory overload.  I guess I just wasn’t ready to run into you in person, but times two,” Keith joked and Lance gave him a soft smile, nodding and letting his hand drop as Keith let go of it and picked up his bag.  

“Yeah, we  _ can  _ be a bit overwhelming,” he said and Keith snorted, letting Lance lead him from the corner.  

“Understatement of the century, I bet you use to give your mom hell,” Keith jabbed and Lance narrowed his eyes.  

“You have no proof of that mullet!”  he said and Keith let relief flood through him.  He was finally acting like himself, more like his actual self than he had been all day, even after seeing him vulnerable like he had been.  Keith shot him a smirk.  

“Not yet, but I’m willing to bet Alexo would tell me,” he said and Lance let out a pitiful noise of indignation.  

“That’s not  _ fair _ !”  

“Life isn’t fair...princess,” Keith said and Lance choked on his own spit, looking away as a stubborn blush hit his cheeks.    
  
“I am  _ not _ a princess…”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So I feel like this chapter is a little scattered but since it's from Keith's pov wanted to have it kind of spaced out, since when he gets into the dancing zone everything else kind of doesn't exist for him (it will be explained later on) so this came out. Anyway...tell me what you guys thought about this chapter! Tell me what you think will happen next chapter and what you WANT to happen!
> 
> Comments keep fast updates coming, the more comments the faster the chapter will come out! 
> 
> The idea for the very first "i'll edit that out' of the story was inspired by a comment from @Al_thea.


	11. Not as great as you thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is trying to be nice to Minho, Minho gets fucking obliterated. Lance wants Allura to adopt him

So Lance knew he was bi.  He had known for ages, and while he didn’t scream it to the heavens, most people picked up on it.  The only people he had actually said ‘I’m bisexual’ to were limited to his close friends and family.  Now, while he was bisexual he leaned more towards girls, mostly because it was safer to flirt with a woman than a random guy, but also because he liked feeling like he could protect someone.  He hadn’t ever really thirsted for someone (excluding Shiro but that was mainly a joke, he doubted he’d ever actually do anything with Shiro and also he wasn’t entirely sure Shiro wasn’t not straight) of the same sex.  Of course he found guys attractive and had flirted when the situation was safe, but not to the point of oogiling and zoning out every time he caught sight.  Again, he leaned more towards girls, if anyone was to render him useless it would be some curvy girl with long hair and soft skin.  That’s how it had always been, which was why Lance was incredibly put off by the countless gay thoughts that attacked his brain throughout the day. 

This included but was not limited too: 

  * ‘damn his ass looks really good’
  * ‘he’s sweating but it make him look like he’s glowing’
  * ‘wtf why can’t I look good when I sweat’
  * ‘Those hips should be illegal’ 
  * ‘he lift his leggy real far and dat ass is calling me’
  * ‘I’m calling the police his smirk is a crime’
  * ‘If he can bend like that in class I wonder how he’d bend in bed’
  * ‘If he falls on the floor I will become the floor’
  * ‘hOW THE FUCK’ 
  * ‘can he move his hips like that in bed?’
  * ‘I need an ambulance’
  * ‘If he impregnates me he can’t leave’
  * ‘wait i can’t get pregnant’
  * “If i pass out will he give me mouth to mouth?’
  * ‘he dropped into a split and i’m pregnant now’



Keith could  _ move _ his body in such a way that every movement was like watching Bob Ross do a painting.  If you looked away for half a second you’d miss something incredible, so you sat there eyes glued open in hopes to absorb everything.  Also he was incredibly flexible, which granted; was expected from a dancer, but still.  He should be locked up for being a danger to others, like when Ms. Finnie had asked him to go into a fish roll after going to the ground from a leap and put his own twist on the end.  The people who had done it with him had either arched up or rolled, but not Keith.  Oh no not Keith.  This mullet-wearing-tight-ass-having-sexy-voice-speaking-asshat had rolled his shoulders, looking up in an almost primal way at the mirror before his stomach rolled forward followed by his hips, his ass bouncing up and down as he humped the floor.  Lance had to fight to not fan himself while Alexo damn near passed out.  The one good thing that had come from that move was that Lance had been recording; specifically Keith because he had said he could, and now he had a copy of that moment forever.  He’d probably edit it into the vlog he was going to make for today because it was a crime to keep that to himself, but the fact that that image would probably find it’s way into his spank bank for later would  _ definitely _ be kept to himself.  

However, just because he may or may not be thirsty as hell for Keith, did NOT mean he couldn’t appreciate other beautiful and sexy beings.  Such as Shiro or Allura who were at the table with him currently.  Apparently they had miscounted earlier, but it wasn’t a big deal seeing as they were only off by one.  Shiro sat at the head of the table, Allura on his left and Matt at his right.  Next to Matt was Keith, who was across from Lance.  Then there was Minho who was practically curled into Keith’s side, Alexo being unfortunate enough to have to sit across from him.  Pidge was next to Minho, across from Hunk, and Kim and Nyma were at the far end of the table, chatting like they were in their own world.  It was going okay so far, they had all just ordered and were now waiting on their food.  Lance as struggling to stay polite towards Minho, but the boy was  _ talented _ at being a lil’ bitch.  Every time anyone outside of Shiro, Allura, Matt or Kim addressed Keith he’d but in, as if he was trying to prove something.  However, Lance still had a trump card to play.

“So Keith, what kind of collab should we do?  We don’t have much time to prepare anything,” Lance said and Keith looked at him from over his drink.  

“Oh...uhm I was thinking maybe we could play a few games or something?  Maybe do a Q and A?”  He asked and Lance nodded. 

“We should both send out a tweet or something asking for questions, do you want to do that for both of our channels or should we do something else?”  Lance asked and Minho leaned forward.  

“Why can you not just post a video of each other dancing?”  he asked and before Lance could shoot something back Keith turned to him.  

“That’s not how it works, a collab means we do something together,” he said and Lance let out a small smirk.  

“We  _ could _ do a dance together if you wanted,” He suggested and Minho turned back to him, looking about as threatening as an angry kitten.  

“Absolutely not,” he said.  Alexo grinned, leaning in at the opportunity to be an ass.  

“OR the three of us could play shirtless twister.  It’s twister, but it’s shirtless for fan service,” Alexo suggested and Lance snickered at the death in the small boys eyes.  Keith however, laughed.  

“Ah, probably not.  We should do a couple of videos though because I doubt we’ll get to do them often.  So we can record a couple and put them out throughout the year to kind of space them out?”  Keith suggested and Lance nodded.  

“I like that idea.  Okay so we can do two Q and A’s because I’m sure we’ll have enough questions.  Oh!  We could do a video where I do your makeup, not special effects because that takes a lot of time that we won’t have...or maybe like a comparison of skin care routines?  That might be fun,” Lance said excitedly and Keith thought for a moment before shrugging. 

“That sounds like it could be fun. What we could do is a video on my channel with you putting western make up on me, then on your channel I could do Korean make up on you,” Keith suggested and excitement ran through Lance.

“Yes!  That would be so fucking cool dude, we have to do that,” Lance said and Keith chuckled.

“Okay well we can send the tweet out tonight and give them a few days to get questions in, and we can do a video while we’re getting questions,” Keith said. Lance nodded.  

“I say we should do the skin care routine first, we can do that in the morning one day before class.  Like maybe we can show up early and do it in the school bathroom or something,” Lance said and Keith scrunched his face up.  

“Mm...what if we wait until saturday?  Then we could do the skin care routines against each other and then do the makeup right after?  Because that’s the only day we have off.  Then we can do the Q & A’s after class one day because it’ll take a lot less energy to do them,” Keith suggested and Lance thought for a moment before he nodded. He watched Minho tug on Keith’s shirt, leaning in to say something quietly to Keith who raised a brow before he looked at Minho.  

  
“We can still go look around at everything, it’s not like we’ll take all day,” Keith said and Minho gave him a look, letting out a puff before he turned, listening in to Kim and Nyma’s conversation.  Keith raised his brow but shook his head, turning back to Lance who was mentally cheering.   _‘Ha!  Take that lil’ bitch!  I’ve got his attention!’_

“So Lance, when are you going to ask me about doing a collab with you?” Shiro suddenly asked and Lance’s jaw dropped, a blush hitting his cheeks, being quickly covered by his hand.  Alexo elbowed him and he coughed, looking at Shiro.  Lance may think Keith is more attractive, but Shiro was nothing to sneeze out.  The man’s jaw was sharp enough to cut someone, and the way that muscle shirt clung to him was sinful.  

“I’m sorry what?”  Lance asked and Shiro gave him a smile, leaning forward slightly.  

“You’ve been saying we should collab for a while, were you just joking?”  He asked and Lance took in a breath.  

“Uh...I mean I was because I wasn’t really expecting to run into you...what do you want to do though?”  Lance asked and Shiro’s eyes glinted.  

“Oh no,” Keith mumbled and Shiro took a breath.  

“So I think we should play a game but have it be teams of siblings.  You and Alexo, Pidge and Matt, and Keith and I,” He said and Lance’s mind blanked, thinking about it.  Having so many people in one video...the views...the new subscribers… 

“Woah...we should do that.  Oh my God,” Lance said and Keith sighed heavily,  before sending Lance a smirk.  

“You have no idea what you just signed up for,” he chuckled and Lance couldn’t help himself, returning the smirk.  

“I think I can handle it,” he turned to Alexo who was also listening, “you down?”  he asked and Alexo mimicked Lance’s smirk.  

“You know it,” he said and they both looked at Keith and Shiro.  

“You’re going down!”  they said in unison and Keith raised a brow, his smirk growing as he shared a glance with Shiro. Shiro nudged Matt. 

“Would you be down with that?”  He asked and Matt grinned, leaning against the table to look at Pidge.  

“Pidge!  You down to kick these peoples asses and prove our dominance as the best sibling pair?”  He asked and Pidge looked over, a confident grin crossing their face, not even needing context to answer. 

“Any time!  We’ll reign supreme!”  They declared and Lance scoffed. 

“As if!”  Lance and Alexo screeched and Keith laughed.  

“We don’t even know what kind of game we’re playing,” He said, and Lance looked back at Shiro who had a smile on his face.  

“I have an idea.  Each pair will write down two games they want to play.  We can do four games  since there’s four channels.  We can put the different games into a hat and draw them,” he said and Lance thought for a moment, thinking that that sounded fair.  

“Alright.  I’m down,” he said and Alexo nodded in agreement, the others echoing him.  

Dinner was served, the conversation going from one topic to another with ease, Lance jumping from one conversation to the other, making sure everyone was included and had a little bit of attention.  Even Minho who didn’t look like someone had just pissed in his cheerios once he started talking, about himself.     
  


“So you’re from South Korea?  Why did you move to the states?”  He asked and Minho pushed at some of the food on his plate.  

“For school, my family wants me to take over the family company, and I want to be a dancer.  My father told me if I could graduate top of my class at Marmora he would allow it,”  Minho said and Lance rose an eyebrow.  That was actually pretty interesting.  Maybe Minho wasn’t just the bad guy put there for plot, it sounded like maybe there was more there.  Maybe Keith was attracted to the parts of him no one else got to see?   _ ‘He’s still annoying though, and is still the bad guy in my book,’ _ Lance thought.  

“Oh really?  Are you top of the class now?”  He asked, genuinely curious.  Minho looked up at him, a glare in his eyes. 

“No.  I’m not.  I should be, but I’m not,”  he said and lance tilted his head.  

“How come?”  Alexo asked before Lance could.  Minho raised and dropped his eyebrows.  

“I would say that even at a school like Marmora...a famous name will carry more weight than talent,” he said and Lance furrowed his brows.  

“Are you talking about the Koganes?”  He asked and Minho licked his lips, shrugging slightly.  

“Not...exactly.  I’m just saying...sometimes the instructors have favorites and will get higher grades then maybe they should,” he said slowly.  Allura leaned forward a little, lacing her fingers together under her chin.  

“Are you saying that either of them don’t earn what they work for?”  She asked and Lance glanced at her and then back to Minho who took a sip of his drink.  

“Lately when I’ve partnered up with some known names I got a lower grade than I should have, or I’ve been over looked for opportunities,” Minho said with a shrug.  Lance frowned. 

“Seriously?  That kind of sucks,” he said, not thinking it was fair.  Minho probably worked incredibly hard for his spot at Marmora, needing to prove to his parents that he should be able to follow his dreams.  Only for someone with a fancy last name to come by and steal the glory.  Lance knew a thing or two about that feeling.  

“If I can recall correctly...the last time you did a presentation with the younger Kogane...their score was brought down only because  _ you _ were late on one of the moves,” Keith said suddenly and Lance glanced at him, realizing that the other boy looked incredibly tense.  Minho turned a glare on him. 

“Well maybe Thace didn’t say anything or point out any mistakes he made because there’s an obvious favoritism,” Minho said and Keith rose a brow.  

“Really?  You  _ really _ think Thace treats him differently than anyone else in the class?”  Keith asked and if he had fur, Lance could imagine that it would be standing on end.  He felt the tables atmosphere turn tense at Keith’s tone, other conversations falling silent.  

“I was on beat and everyone knows it,” Minho snapped back and Lance started to sit back in his chair, swallowing hard.  As much shit as he started, he actually hated confrontation.  

“Maybe you’re not as good as you think you are,” Lance’s jaw dropped, looking at Pidge who had an expressionless face.  

“Savage,” Alexo whispered next to him and Lance covered his mouth to hide the snort that left him.  Minho was staring at Pidge as if they’d burst into flames if he stared hard enough. Keith’s jaw had hit the floor, everyone else at the table looking somewhere between shocked or startled.  

“That is funny coming from someone who can not dance at all,” Minho bit out and Pidge didn’t miss a beat, shrugging nonchalantly, dismissing his insult.

“I don’t need to dance unless I’m playing just dance.  I’ve got the best mind at this table, rivaled only by Hunk and followed closely by Lance.  But if you  _ really _ want to compare then I’m willing to bet my full ride that I’m better in my field than you are in yours.  If you’re not the top of your class that’s  _ your _ fault.  But you’re right.  I guess it is funny that I can’t dance and I’m the one who pointed out the possibility that you’re not as great as you think you are.  The others who dance and know you won’t say it, but I will.  Now stop bitching, you’re ruining the taste of my pasta,” Pidge snipped before they took another bite of said pasta, scrunching their face up to make a point.  Lance was damn near ready to fall out of his chair, taking deep breaths to keep from screeching.  He swallowed, letting out a very nervous laugh as anxiety bubbled up inside of him.  

Well, this had gone about as good as he thought it would.  Although he hadn’t expected it to be Pidge that dealt the blow.  He looked over at Keith who looked like he just wanted to go to bed, and upon remembering Keith’s attack right before they left for this restaurant he felt guilt run through him.  He probably shouldn’t have pushed Minho.  It wasn’t directly his fault, but he wasn’t innocent either.  He nudged Alexo and Alexo sent him a pout before sighing.  Lance took in a deep breath, clearing his throat loudly.   

“SO ALLURA YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT A PHOTOSHOOT EARLIER,” They both said, raising their voices slightly.  Allura looked startled but nodded.  

“Oh, I was.  I’m going to Cuba over spring break to do a photoshoot on the beaches and some of the local places.  I was just complaining because the person we hired to teach my crew and I about the culture and local customs called me yesterday and said her sister was getting married and she’s the maid of honor.  So I understand why she can’t go, and she she gave me ample warning.  But now I’m worried that I won’t find someone that I can get along with who can translate and teach me and my crew what we should do,” she explained and Lance licked his lips, leaning forward a little.  

“I could do it,” he said without thinking about it.  Alexo practically leaned on Lance.  

“Or I could do it,” he said and Allura raised her brows in surprise.  

“Really?”  She asked and Lance nodded.  

“Yeah, we’re from Cuba, what area are you planning on going too?” Lance asked, trying to push down his excitement at the idea of getting to go to Cuba.  He might not, Allura may say no, or she could find someone else that is more familiar with the area she’s going too.   

“We’re starting in Matanzas, for Varadero beach and some of the attractions.  Then the plan is to go to Havana,” Allura said.  “It’s an equal part work and vacation,” she said before tilting her head.  “So you guys are really from Cuba?”  She asked and Lance nearly screamed.  He took a breath to quell the urge.  

“Actually, we grew up in both of those cities.  We lived in Havana but spent just as much time in Matanzas.  Our mom has a dance studio in Havana, our abuela owns one in Matanzas,” Alexo said.  

“Wait really?” It was Keith who asked and Lance turned to him, nodding.  

“Yeah, growing up we were either dancing in one of the studios or surfing on the beach,” he said and Keith rose his brows.  

“That’s really cool, maybe one day we could go,” Keith said, looking at Shiro who nodded in agreement. 

“It sounds fun, if you’d have us,”  Shiro added and Lance gave them both a grin.  

“It would be cool,” he agreed before he looked at Allura.  “But I mean if you can’t find anyone else to do it, I’m sure I could scrape the money up to do it, or Alexo,” Lance said and Allura took a sip of her drink, shaking her head and setting it down.  

“You misunderstand.  Everything would be paid for. Your flight, your hotel room and your dinner for every night since we usually eat together.  All of your transportation as well,” she said and Lance wanted to cry.  She leaned forward slightly.  

“Would both of you be willing to do it?  I know it’s kind of short notice and sudden, but I’d compensate you both.  How does 150$ a day sound?  We’ll be gone for about fourteen days,” she said and Lance and Alexo pawed at each others shoulders.

“I’m a broke college kid...Allura will you adopt me?”  Lance asked and she let out an awkward laugh.  

“Uh…"

“He MEANS, yes.  That sounds fantastic and we would love to help,” Alexo said and Allura smiled brightly.  

“That’s great!  We’ll exchange numbers so we can keep in touch,” she said and Lance’s head spun.  He was going to get paid to go home, to speak Spanish and show a goddess-like looking girl around and teach her about his culture and home.  Also?  Allura in a bikini.  He gave her a huge grin.  

“Can’t wait,” he said, turning back to his food, excitement swirling inside of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I owe you all an apology for being gone for so long. I disappeared without a word for a while and I feel terrible about it. School started up and I suddenly became much much busier and when I had free time I just wasn't in the mood to write. I think I'm going to move updates to once a week, most likely either Friday or Sunday I'm not sure yet but I'll let you know as soon as I do. Thank you to all of you who have stuck through my absence and came back for this update. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> I had to evacuate for the hurricane and while we didn't get really hard by Irma there's a lot of storm surge and we don't know when re-entry to our area will be allowed and now there's a chance Jose might hit our area as well. Our neighbor told us our house is fine of as of right now and we hope it will remain that way but we won't know if we're going home soon or not. But I'm safe and taken care of so I'll try to work on this as much as I can while I'm out of school. 
> 
> Anywaayyyy...please tell me what you guys thought of this chapter! I really need some inspiration to get some momentum back for this. 
> 
> For updates of my situation or the progress on this story, and even for some sneak peaks, you can follow me on tumblr @firemageking. Feel free to message me there as well!


	12. wAIT COME BACK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mmmmm we find out who is partnered with who for COTA, and find out how Keith and Minho's convo after dinner went

 

“Alright last but not least, Kim and Nyma you’ll be in a group as well.  You will all put together two dances, two minutes minimum, three minutes maximum.  Spend today talking, getting to know each other’s styles and get comfortable.  Tomorrow your group will be assigned a form and any props you may or may not need,”  the Juilliard instructor said and Keith chewed on his lip, his head still reeling from who he was paired up with.  He looked at Kim who rose a brow at him, giving him a sympathetic grin.  

“Minho is NOT going to be happy about this,” she said and Keith’s shoulders dropped, knowing she was 100% right.  He glanced to his left, seeing Alexo and Lance who were excitedly talking to each other about the different things they could do with the three of them.  He looked back at Kim, remembering what had happened at dinner last night and what had happened _after_.  

_“I can’t believe you said that!”  Keith exclaimed, both of them speaking Korean._

_“He asked me and I answered honestly!  Ginn is going to let you into the class of excellence because of what your last name is!”  Minho yelled, waving his hands around in the air._

_“No she’s not!  I have to audition just like everyone else!”  Keith seethed.  “You KNOW how hard I work!  I can’t believe you’d throw me under like that just because you haven’t made the cut!  I’m not going to break my legs so you can take the lead,” Keith bit out and Minho clenched his fists by his side._

_“I don’t need you to!  I’m a better dancer than you are PERIOD, I can take the lead whenever I want,” Minho declared and Keith lifted his chin defiantly._

_“Do it then.  And while you put in the extra time in the dance studio have fun trying to keep your seat class grades up,” Keith spat before he spun, ignoring Minho’s calls for him as Keith left the room, slamming the door behind him._

“Well he’s unhappy about a lot of things right now,” Keith said and she gave him an awkward smile.  

“Give him a few days and he’ll calm down,” she said and Keith shrugged.  

“Yeah…”  he trailed off, turning to Lance and Alexo, his partners for COTA.  

They spent most of the rest of the time showing off their favorite moves, talking about what they were able to do and what they couldn’t do, trying to show each other how to do a move that the others couldn’t.  By the end of it Keith wasn’t as tired as he had been yesterday, and he felt better than he had this morning.  As people were leaving Keith sipped at his water, having already asked Ms. Finnie if he could use her room for practice after everyone was done. She had shrugged and said that she’d be here until around 9 anyway.  He and Shiro were going to go over the dance they had been working on.  The third and fourth years still had projects to do on top of COTA, and needed to be presented right when they got back.  They had been working on it for about two weeks, getting the basic moves down and now Keith just needed to clean it up.  

He saw Lance walk over to him, giving him a tired grin.

“Hey, why aren’t you packing up?”  He asked and Keith shrugged.  

“I’m not leaving yet.  Shiro has a project that has to be presented when we get home.  He has to teach an underclassmen a short dance but it’s supposed to be complicated.  Something about how two different people doing the same moves to the same song will end up doing a different dance,” Keith said, setting his water bottle down.  Lance shook his head slightly.  

“Man...do you ever stop?”  He asked and Keith had a tiny smile on his face, glancing to the side before looking back up at Lance.  

“Guess you could say I’m non-stop,” he joked and Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith for a long moment.  Keith was about to explain it when he heard Shiro calling him.  He turned, starting to head towards him when he heard lance gasp behind him.

“Oh!  I get it!  Okay then Hamilton,” Lance called and Keith snickered under his breath, looking up at Shiro.  

“Hey, are you ready?”  He asked and Shiro nodded, setting his bag down and sipped at his water.

“Yeah, you asked the teacher to use the room?”  he asked and Keith nodded, crossing his arms.

“We have until nine,” he confirmed and Shiro furrowed his brows a little.

“We have most of it down, we shouldn’t have to stay past eight,” he said and Keith shrugged.

“I’m just saying that that’s our limit,” Keith said and Shiro nodded.  

“Hey guys,” Keith turned at the voice, seeing Alexo and Lance walk over.  

“Do you mind if we hang out?  We kind of want to watch,” Lance said and Alexo shook his head at Lance.  

“He means it’s his turn to do dishes and if he stalls long enough Hunk will do it for him,” Alexo said and Keith rose a brow before shrugging.  

“I don’t care, Shiro?” he asked and Shiro shook his head, giving them a smile.  Keith liked that smile, it made him feel warm and safe.  Well, Shiro in general made him feel safe.  It was a known fact for almost anyone who met him that he was ten times more likely to do something or go to something if he knew Shiro would be, like a safety blanket.  He knew that he’d have to detach himself soon, Shiro would graduate a year before him, and Keith didn’t expect him to stay another year just for Keith.

“I don’t mind, we’ll be recording though,” he said and Lance pulled his own camera out, waving it slightly with a grin.  

“I’ve had it out all day,” he said, shooting finger guns.  Shiro laughed and Keith licked his lips, putting his water back down, going to stretch a little.  He went to the middle of the room, watching himself in the mirror as he slid down.  He was wearing leggings that hugged his legs tightly but comfortable, the material really stretchy.  He had taken off his hoodie earlier, having a spiderman shirt on.  Keith let out a breath, enjoying the relative quiet for a moment as he went into a sideways split and leaned forward, feeling the slight strain on his thighs.  He held his position before he moved to grab his foot.  The day had been...interesting.  While Keith had tried to keep them _mostly_ on topic, he had found out that the twins liked to get off topic _a lot_ and about the randomest thing.   _Their heads are full of butterflies…and I swear they practice the unison thing.  There’s no way they do that naturally._  He thought, holding his position before he switched sides.   _I’m not sure I can handle both of them for another week and a half._   

“Damn Keith, you got a permit-” _oh no_ “-to carry around all that ASS?”   Lance catcalled and Keith rolled his eyes, holding back his smile.  

“You got a wet floor sign for all that sweat?”  Keith called back and Alexo burst into a fit of giggles while Lance, who he hadn’t realized was recording with his phone brought it up, making a face at his phone.  

“Wh-Keith!”  He screeched and Shiro chuckled under his breath while Keith let out a pleased smirk, pushing himself up.  Shiro walked up to him, Keith looking at himself in the mirror, rolling his head backwards and then forwards to loosen it up.  

“Alright, let’s go over it once slowly, once fast, then I want to see you do it with music,” Shiro said and Keith nodded.  He had set up the camera to it was face them, and Keith looked at the ipad connected to it, seeing where he was at on the camera.  He let Shiro be the focus, listening to his count before he moved slowly, making sure he had the movements down, moving in almost perfect unison, Shiro counting.  They got through it and both moved back to their original spot, doing it faster, Keith counting with him this time.  He messed up the end, redoing it though.  Shiro nodded.  

“Okay, let’s plug it into the music.  Don’t forget it goes fast,”  Shiro said and Keith nodded, centering himself in the camera.  He blocked out Lance and Alexo who were messing around on Lance’s phone, but glanced at them when Lance spoke up.  

“Keith I’m live streaming and they want to see what you’re doing,” he said loudly and Keith licked his lips.  

“Ask Shiro,”  he said, going through the steps in his head.  It was only halfway done, but it could be ended where they had stopped. 

“SHHHHIIIRRRRROOOOO,” Lance called and Shiro shook his head slightly as he plugged his phone into the speakers.  

“Yeah, it’s fine Lance, just don’t distract him,” Shiro said and Lance snorted, looking down at his phone, mumbling something before tapping his screen.  Keith assumed he had switched cameras.  He stretched his arms slightly before he got ready, nodding to Shiro.  He watched himself in the mirror, hearing the music start to play  He licked his lips, hearing his cue and jumped into it, Shiro counting loudly so Keith could keep beat.  

  [(Keith is the first person who dances)](https://youtu.be/O3aCcm0LOwA)

Shiro cut the music when he finished, Lance letting out a whistle.  Keith gave him a tiny grin, looking over at Shiro who nodded.  

“Awesome, let’s do it again, with both of us, then you’ll do it again alone so we can look for any differences on the camera,” he said and Keith nodded.  After about an hour Shiro called it quits and Keith was incredibly grateful.  He downed the rest of his water, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, looking up and seeing Minho sitting a few feet away from Lance and Alexo.  He raised a brow.  He hadn’t noticed him come in.   _How long had he been sitting there?  What does he want?_  Minho sat at attention when he saw Keith look at him, standing up shyly.  Keith narrowed his eyes, turning his back and started to pack up his bag.  He stood back up, pulling his duffle bag onto his shoulder before looking at Lance and Alexo who had gotten up.  Keith had...hesitantly given them his number so that they could get in touch for any of COTA related stuff, in case someone didn’t have wifi, but his phone had been turned off this morning when he arrived.  He couldn’t imagine how many notifications he’d have after all the live tweeting Lance had been doing and the live stream.  Frankly, he was a little scared.  He looked at Lance.  

“Okay, so one Q&A for your channel tomorrow after right?”  he asked and Lance nodded.  

“Yeah, you can just come home with us afterwards and then someone can give you a ride back to your hotel when we’re done,” Lance confirmed and Alexo wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders, leaning in slightly with a smirk.  

“OR you could just spend the night with us, you can share my bed.  It’s kind of small, but I don’t mind cuddling if you don’t,” he said with a wink and Keith snorted, shaking his head, fully aware that Minho was waiting awkwardly behind them.  

“Thank’s Alexo, but I don’t think you can handle me shirtless,” he joked and Lance sucked in a deep breath.  

“ooooOOOOOOH,” he screamed and Shiro slid in next to Keith.

“yoU JUST GOT REJECTED!”  He added and Keith face-palmed.  They had planned that most likely.

“Oh my God,” he mumbled, shaking his head.  “I’ll see you guys later,” he glanced at Minho and Shiro.  “We should get back to the hotel,” he said and Shiro nodded.  After saying goodbye to the twins Keith walked out with Shiro, Minho trailing behind quietly.  They got out of the building, Keith ignoring Minho as Shiro and Keith went over what they were going to do and how to edit the video.  Shiro glanced at Minho when they were done, coughing slightly.  

“I think I’m going to go see Matt for a little bit, you two should go on without me,” he said and Keith sighed, seeing through his excuse easily. 

“I’ll see you later,” he mumbled and Shiro nodded before splitting off.  Minho hesitantly took his place and cleared his throat.  

( **Bold dialogue is spoken in Korean)**

 **“Can...can we talk?”**  He asked quietly and Keith crossed his arms.

 **“What is there to talk about?  You made your opinions known last night.  Shouldn’t you be practicing so you can jump ahead of me?”** Keith snapped at him and Minho flinched.  Keith tried to ignore the tug he felt in his chest.  

 **“Keith please...can we sit somewhere?”** He asked, his tone almost begging.  Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair as he looked around, seeing the fountain.  Might as well.  If Minho was still acting like a brat he could at least push him in.  He lead him over and sat down, crossing his arms again, giving Minho a look that said ‘explain’.  Minho took a deep breath, playing with his hoodie sleeve.  

 **“I’m really sorry...I didn’t mean what I said last night.  I was tired and grumpy and I was jealous that those two boys had your attention.  I’m used to having it, and it made me feel...ugly inside when they flirted with you,”**  he said and Keith suppressed the urge to smile and immediately forgive him.  No, he was done with being toyed with.

 **“Well you have plenty of people flirt with you, all the time.  And you even go on dates with them and you get mad when I get jealous.  You’re always reminding me that we’re not actually dating. So technically they weren’t doing anything wrong, because I’m not in a relationship,”** he said firmly and Minho gave him a sad look, tears in the corners of his eyes.  Keith was startled at the look, not able to pull away when Minho grabbed his hand.  

“ **I’m sorry!  I didn’t understand how you felt until last night when they couldn’t keep their grubby hands off of you.  They wouldn’t stop staring at you, like they were trying to undress you or something.  Then when you left last night...I was so scared when I realized how far I had pushed you away, I thought I had lost you and you hated me.  Keith I spent the whole night a worried, crying mess.  Please, give me another chance.  You walking out made me realize how much I care about you...I want to be with you.  Only you,”** Minho declared and Keith’s head spun.   _Wait what?  Is he saying what I think he’s saying?  He wants to be in a relationship?  Like an actual, official relationship?   Holy shit, oh my God._  

 **“What...what exactly are you asking?”**  He asked unsurely and Minho took a deep breath.

 **“I’m asking if you’ll date me, officially,”** he said and Keith sucked in a deep breath, excitement coursing through him.  

 **“Yes, yeah, okay.  Yes, I’ll date you,”** He agreed and Minho gave him a relieved smile.  

 **“So...we’re boyfriends now,”** he clarified and Keith blinked.  He felt like he was in a dream.  

 **“Yeah...we are,”** He said, a grin crossing his face.  He was dating Minho.  Minho was dating him.  Officially.  Minho was his.  

 **“So...are you going to kiss your new boyfriend or not?”** Minho asked and Keith’s grin widened even further, cupping Minho’s cheek as he leaned in.  

 **“Yeah...I will,”** he said before he sealed his lips with Minho’s.

~.._~

**@lancealot:** So, you’re taken now

**@heteroDON’t** : yeah, Minho apologised about last night and asked me out

**@lancealot:** that’s cool, I’m happy for you :)

**@heteroDON’t** : thanks, I’m pretty excited.  It’s finally officail  

**@heteroDON’t:** *official

**@lancealot** : lol I’d be pumped too.  You guys are cute together.  

**@lancealot:**  Alexo is bitter tho, he’s jealous I think

**@heteroDON’t** : haha, I’m sure he’ll be fine

**@lancealot** : well yeah but he’s still going to pout.

**@lancealot:** WAIT.  you could break up with Minho and then i wouldn’t have to hear him whine.  This is CLEARLY a good idea and you should listen to me.

**@heteroDON’t:**  mmmm yeahhh no.

**@heteroDON’t:**  you wish ;)

**@lancealot:** ohp, you got me.  

**@lancealot:** bc if you’re taken then i have no chance ;)

**@heteroDON’t:** lol, I doubt that’s going to stop you from flirting tho

**@lancealot:**  got that right.  

**@lancealot** : which reminds me

**@lancealot:** we’re like hot chocolate and marshmellows.  Bc you’re hot and I wanna melt inside you

**@heteroDON’t:** i’m going to bed

**@lancealot** : wAIT COME BACK.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented! I really really appreicate it. It makes me smile everytime and helps me build steam to write. For anyone wondering, I'm back home safe, and the house is fine. I'm fine, it's all good. Please make sure you leave a kudos and a comment to tell me what you thought of this chapter! WHat you liked, what you didn't like, what you thouhght was going to happen this chapter and what you think will happen NEXT chapter as Keith starts to work with BOTH of the twins, while daitng Minho. Also, what do you guys think about Minho? Was he being genuine or not?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer- *I do not own any of the videos, art or choreography mentioned or linked in this work unless stated otherwise. A kudos would be greatly appreciated but a comment would be even more welcome! Please tell me what you thought and what you thik will happen next! Tell me what you want to see! 
> 
> Also I ask you keep in mind that as this fic progresses it will jump up to a Mature rating. Have a nice day and don't forget to leave a comment!


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